bottle (redirected from bottles up)

be chief cook and bottle washer (humorous)

to be the person who is responsible for cooking meals and washing the pans and dishes. It's my birthday party, so Alan is chief cook and bottle washer tonight.

See also: chief, cook

be on the bottle

hit the bottle - to start drinking too much alcohol regularly, usually in order to forget your problems. She wasn't making much sense when I talked to her. I think she's on the bottle again.

hit the bottle

to start drinking too much alcohol regularly, usually in order to forget your problems. He lost his job and hit the bottle.

See also: hit

let the genie out of the bottle (mainly American)

to allow something bad to happen which cannot then be stopped. With the Internet, we really let the genie out of the bottle. People now have unlimited access to all manner of material.

See also: genie, let

put the genie back in the bottle (mainly American)

let the genie out of the bottle - to allow something bad to happen which cannot then be stopped. Now that these sorts of drugs are so widely available, it may be too late to put the genie back in the bottle.

See also: back, genie

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bottle up something

1. to not express something. She bottled up her emotions throughout the tournament. The more you bottle that anger up, the more likely it is that it will explode.

2. to keep something from making progress. The French navy had bottled up the British navy. Lawmakers in key positions can bottle things up for months.

the genie is out of the bottle

something has become known. Efforts to ban cloning cannot succeed — the genie is out of the bottle.

Usage notes: often used in the form put the genie back in the bottle: Once people got used to e-mail, it was impossible to put this genie back in the bottle.

Etymology: based on the story of a genie (= magic being) who was released from a bottle and then helps the person who let it out

See also: genie

hit the bottle

to drink too much alcohol. I was disgusted with myself for having hit the bottle again.

See also: hit