BOTTLE

(ALCOHOL) [noun] [U] [informal] - the bottle the habit of regularly drinking a lot of alcoholWith often disastrous consequences, some writers have considered the bottle as necessary as the pen.She started to hit the bottle (= drink too much alcohol) after she had her third child.(informal) To be on the bottle is to drink a lot regularly.He tried to give it up, but after a few months he was back on the bottle.He was once a brilliant academic, but he took to the bottle (= started to drink a lot regularly) when his wife died.