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Bottle up

verb, slang

Definitions

Verb
  1. 1
    To put into bottles. transitive
  2. 2
    consciously restrain from showing; of emotions, desires, impulses, or behavior wordnet
  3. 3
    To prevent (enemy vessels) from leaving an anchorage. transitive

    "Paul Brunner spoke over his shoulder, "In the last war the cruiser Königsberg hid in an African river and made her repairs." / Kurt answered, "Yes, sir, but she didn't get out again. The Royal Navy bottled her up and finally destroyed her.""

  4. 4
    To keep suppressed and hidden. idiomatic, transitive

    "Emotions are often bottled up rather than dealt with, which can lead to stress in later life."

  5. 5
    To comprehensively defeat. informal, transitive

    "Leosthenes defeated Antipater in battle—the first defeat of a Macedonian army for thirty years—and bottled him up in the town of Lamia."

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  1. 6
    To prevent (an opponent) from achieving any effective action. slang, transitive

    "Darrion Trammell and San Diego State used a dominant defensive performance to knock top overall seed Alabama out of the NCAA Tournament on Friday night, bottling up All-America freshman Brandon Miller in a 71-64 victory in the Sweet 16."

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