BOTTLE NOUN

In British slang: courage, spirit, guts. Usually in phrases such as have (got) a lot of bottle, to be spirited or courageous; to have guts; lose one's bottle, to lose one's nerve (and so as a phrasal verb bottle out, to lose one's nerve; to pull out, especially at the last minute). Etymology: The phrase no bottle has been used in underworld slang to mean 'no use, worthless' since the middle of the nineteenth century; it is likely that this was reinterpreted this century to mean 'lacking substance or spirit', and that from there bottle started to be used on its own and eventually to be incorporated into new phrases. The rhyming slang expression bottle and glass for 'arse' is often assumed to have something to do with these expressions (in which case bottle would be more strictly 'guts'), but this may be no more than popular speculation. History and Usage: These phrases, which are essentially part of the spoken language, started to appear in written sources in the sixties as representations of Cockney or underworld speech. Their use was reinforced by a milk marketing campaign in the early eighties, the caption for which read 'It's gotta lotta bottle', and by television series such as Minder, in which Cockney expressions were brought to a wide audience. Bottle out did not appear in the written language at all until the very end of the seventies (at about the same time as this series was first shown). Goodness, was I going to give her a bad time! Of course, when it got down to it, I bottled out completely. Robert McLiam Wilson Ripley Bogle (1989), p. 162 You appear not to have the bottle, courtesy or wherewithal to actually approach her in person. Just Seventeen Dec. 1989, p. 22 Some of the warders lost their bottle and just fled. News of the World 8 Apr. 1990, p. 6