bottom

n. countable

A2 Elementary Oxford US //ˈbɑtəm// UK //bˈɒtəm// bot·tom

Archaic General-service Humorous Informal Slang

n. the lowest part of something, like a box, a hill, or a page. It can also mean the part of your body that you sit on.

n. the lowest or deepest part of an object, surface, or container. In informal register, it refers to the human buttocks.

SIMPLE

The keys are at the bottom of my bag.

CONTEXTUAL

The divers found an old shipwreck resting on the sandy bottom of the ocean.

COMPLEX

The researchers discovered that the sediment at the bottom of the lake contained chemical traces from a volcanic eruption that occurred thousands of years ago.

Synonyms

Antonyms

Origin

PIE word *bʰudʰmḗn From Middle English botme, botom, from Old English botm, bodan (“bottom, foundation; ground, abyss”), from Proto-West Germanic butm, from Proto-Germanic butmaz, budmaz (“bottom; ground”), from Proto-Indo-European bʰudʰmḗn (“bottom”). Cognates Cognate with Yola bothom, bottom (“bottom”), Saterland Frisian Boudem (“floor; ground”), West Frisian boaiem (“floor; ground”), Dutch bodem, boom, boôm (“bottom; ground, soil”), German Boden (“floor; ground; soil”), Limburgish baom (“bottom; ground, soil”), Luxembourgish Buedem (“bottom; earth, soil”), Vilamovian bödum (“bottom; ground”), Danish bund (“bottom”), Elfdalian buottn (“bottom”), Faroese botnur (“bottom”), Icelandic and Norwegian Nynorsk botn (“bottom”), Norwegian Bokmål botn, bunn (“bottom”), Swedish botten (“bottom”); also Irish and Scottish Gaelic bonn (“base, bottom; sole (of foot)”), Latin fundus (“bottom”) (whence fund, via French), Ancient Greek πυθμήν (puthmḗn, “bottom of a cup or jar; the bottom of the sea; butt of a tree”), Albanian buzë (“rocky chasm”), Armenian անդունդ (andund), անդունդք (andundkʻ, “abyss, chasm”), Northern Kurdish bin (“bottom”), Persian بن (bon, “bottom”), Sanskrit बुध्न (budhna, “bottom”). The sense “posterior of a person” is first attested in 1794; the verb “to reach the bottom of” is first attested in 1808. bottom dollar (“the last dollar one has”) is from 1882.

Usage

Often used with the preposition 'at' or 'on'.

Idioms14 entries