bottom

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. 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. 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 ]

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 ]

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 ]

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 ]

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 ]