n. [ From 1st Bottom in sense 8: cf. D. bodemerij. Cf. Bummery. ] (Mar. Law) A contract in the nature of a mortgage, by which the owner of a ship, or the master as his agent, hypothecates and binds the ship (and sometimes the accruing freight) as security for the repayment of money advanced or lent for the use of the ship, if she terminates her voyage successfully. If the ship is lost by perils of the sea, the lender loses the money; but if the ship arrives safe, he is to receive the money lent, with the interest or premium stipulated, although it may, and usually does, exceed the legal rate of interest. See Hypothecation. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. [ OE. botum, botme, AS. botm; akin to OS. bodom, D. bodem, OHG. podam, G. boden, Icel. botn, Sw. botten, Dan. bund (for budn), L. fundus (for fudnus), Gr. pyqmh`n (for fyqmh`n), Skr. budhna (for bhudhna), and Ir. bonn sole of the foot, W. bon stem, base. √257. Cf. 4th Found, Fund, n. ] 1. The lowest part of anything; the foot; as, the bottom of a tree or well; the bottom of a hill, a lane, or a page. [ 1913 Webster ]

Or dive into the bottom of the deep. Shak. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. The part of anything which is beneath the contents and supports them, as the part of a chair on which a person sits, the circular base or lower head of a cask or tub, or the plank floor of a ship's hold; the under surface. [ 1913 Webster ]

Barrels with the bottom knocked out. Macaulay. [ 1913 Webster ]

No two chairs were alike; such high backs and low backs and leather bottoms and worsted bottoms. W. Irving. [ 1913 Webster ]

3. That upon which anything rests or is founded, in a literal or a figurative sense; foundation; groundwork. [ 1913 Webster ]

4. The bed of a body of water, as of a river, lake, sea. [ 1913 Webster ]

5. The fundament; the buttocks. [ 1913 Webster ]

6. An abyss. [ Obs. ] Dryden. [ 1913 Webster ]

7. Low land formed by alluvial deposits along a river; low-lying ground; a dale; a valley. “The bottoms and the high grounds.” Stoddard. [ 1913 Webster ]

8. (Naut.) The part of a ship which is ordinarily under water; hence, the vessel itself; a ship. [ 1913 Webster ]

My ventures are not in one bottom trusted. Shak. [ 1913 Webster ]

Not to sell the teas, but to return them to London in the
same bottoms in which they were shipped. Bancroft. [ 1913 Webster ]

Full bottom, a hull of such shape as permits carrying a large amount of merchandise. [ 1913 Webster ]

9. Power of endurance; as, a horse of a good bottom. [ 1913 Webster ]

10. Dregs or grounds; lees; sediment. Johnson. [ 1913 Webster ]

At bottom,
At the bottom, at the foundation or basis; in reality. “He was at the bottom a good man.” J. F. Cooper. --
To be at the bottom of, to be the cause or originator of; to be the source of. [ Usually in an opprobrious sense. ] J. H. Newman. [ 1913 Webster ] He was at the bottom of many excellent counsels. Addison. [ 1913 Webster ] --
To go to the bottom, to sink; esp. to be wrecked. --
To touch bottom, to reach the lowest point; to find something on which to rest. [ 1913 Webster ]

v. t. To wind round something, as in making a ball of thread. [ Obs. ] [ 1913 Webster ]

As you unwind her love from him,
Lest it should ravel and be good to none,
You must provide to bottom it on me. Shak. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. [ OE. botme, perh. corrupt. for button. See Button. ] A ball or skein of thread; a cocoon. [ Obs. ] [ 1913 Webster ]

Silkworms finish their bottoms in . . . fifteen days. Mortimer. [ 1913 Webster ]

v. i. 1. To rest, as upon an ultimate support; to be based or grounded; -- usually with on or upon. [ 1913 Webster ]

Find on what foundation any proposition bottoms. Locke. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. To reach or impinge against the bottom, so as to impede free action, as when the point of a cog strikes the bottom of a space between two other cogs, or a piston the end of a cylinder. [ 1913 Webster ]

v. t. [ imp. & p. p. Bottomed (&unr_;); p. pr. & vb. n. Bottoming. ] [ 1913 Webster ]

1. To found or build upon; to fix upon as a support; -- followed by on or upon. [ 1913 Webster ]

Action is supposed to be bottomed upon principle. Atterbury. [ 1913 Webster ]

Those false and deceiving grounds upon which many bottom their eternal state ]. South. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. To furnish with a bottom; as, to bottom a chair. [ 1913 Webster ]

3. To reach or get to the bottom of. Smiles. [ 1913 Webster ]

a. Of or pertaining to the bottom; fundamental; lowest; under; as, bottom rock; the bottom board of a wagon box; bottom prices. [ 1913 Webster ]

Bottom glade, a low glade or open place; a valley; a dale. Milton. [ 1913 Webster ]

--
Bottom grass, grass growing on bottom lands. --
Bottom land. See 1st Bottom, n., 7. [ 1913 Webster ]

a. Having at the bottom, or as a bottom; resting upon a bottom; grounded; -- mostly, in composition; as, sharp-bottomed; well-bottomed. [ 1913 Webster ]

. A slow alcoholic fermentation during which the yeast cells collect at the bottom of the fermenting liquid. It takes place at a temperature of 4° - 10° C. (39° - 50°F.). It is used in making lager beer and wines of low alcohol content but fine bouquet. [ Webster 1913 Suppl. ]

n. low-lying alluvial land near a river.
Syn. -- bottom. [ WordNet 1.5 ]

a. Without a bottom; hence, fathomless; baseless; as, a bottomless abyss. “Bottomless speculations.” Burke. [ 1913 Webster ]