# bottom

Pronunciation: say "BO-tuhm" US /ˈbɑ.təm/, UK /ˈbɒ.təm/

## Noun

1. The lowest part, base, or underside of something, including the underwater hull of a ship.
   - Simple: The lowest part of something, its underside, or the part on which it rests.
   - _Read the notes at the bottom of the contract before signing._
   - _The bottom of the hill was thick with mud._
3. The lowest or last position in a ranking, list, or hierarchy; the opposite of the top.
   - Simple: The lowest or last place in a list, group, or competition.
   - _The school is near the bottom of the national tables._
   - _Her name was at the bottom of the waiting list._
4. The ground under a sea, lake, or river; in poetic use, the depths of the sea.
   - Simple: The ground under the water of a sea, lake, or river.
   - _Divers found the wreck resting on the bottom of the lake._
   - _Sunlight never reaches the ocean bottom._
5. The buttocks; a mild, euphemistic word for the part of the body one sits on, and by extension the anus.
   - Simple: A polite word for the part of the body that a person sits on.
   - _The nurse gave the injection in the patient's bottom._
   - _He slipped on the ice and bruised his bottom._
6. The fundamental part or essential nature of something; the basis or root cause, as in 'at bottom' or 'get to the bottom of'.
   - Simple: The most basic or most important part of something, such as the real cause.
   - _At bottom, the dispute is about respect, not pay._
   - _Auditors spent months trying to get to the bottom of the missing funds._
7. In baseball, the second half of an inning (the home team's turn at bat) as opposed to the top.
   - Simple: In baseball, the second half of an inning, when the home team bats.
   - _With two out in the bottom of the eighth, the crowd rose to its feet._
   - _The home team bats in the bottom of every inning._
8. A garment covering the body below the waist: trousers, shorts, or the lower half of a two-piece outfit; often plural.
   - Simple: A piece of clothing worn on the lower half of the body, such as trousers or shorts.
   - _Tracksuit bottoms are fine for the gym but not for the office._
   - _The set comes with a striped top and a plain bottom._
11. The remotest or innermost part of something, especially the far end of a garden, street, or field.
   - Simple: The far end of something long, such as a garden or a street.
   - _Their cottage stands at the very bottom of the lane, where the pavement gives way to a farm track._
   - _The post office is at the bottom of the street, past the church._
10. Low-lying land, such as a valley or hollow, especially flat land along a river with rich soil; often plural. *(US)*
   - Simple: Low, flat land in a valley or next to a river, often called 'bottoms'.
   - _Deer graze in the bottoms below the ridge at dusk._
   - _The farmhouse stands in a bottom sheltered from the wind._
12. In sex, the partner who takes the receptive or submissive role, as opposed to the top, whether in gay sex, BDSM, or a relationship generally. *(slang)*
   - Simple: In sex, the person who takes the receiving or less controlling role, the opposite of a top.
   - _Dating apps let users list themselves as a top, a bottom, or versatile._
   - _He didn't mind being called a bottom, but he hated the stereotypes._
19. In nautical and commercial use, a cargo vessel or ship, especially considered as a carrier of goods.
   - Simple: A ship, especially one that carries cargo, an old sea word.
   - _The company chartered a single bottom to carry its whole cargo of cotton to Liverpool._
   - _Grain exporters complained that there were too few bottoms available to carry the harvest overseas._

## Adjective

2. Lowest in position, rank, or order; situated at or belonging to the lowest level of something.
   - Simple: Lowest in position, or last in order or rank.
   - _The bottom drawer always sticks._
   - _Prices in the bottom third of the market rose fastest._
14. In transgender contexts, relating to the genitals (as in 'bottom surgery' and 'bottom dysphoria') as opposed to 'top', which relates to the chest.
   - Simple: Relating to the genitals, in words about transgender care such as 'bottom surgery'.
   - _Some patients report bottom dysphoria long before they seek treatment._
   - _Insurance covered his top surgery but not the bottom surgery._

## Verb

9. To fall to the lowest point, as a price or a market index does.
   - Simple: To drop to its lowest level, usually before rising again.
   - _Oil bottomed near forty dollars before the recovery began._
   - _Shares tend to bottom before the economy does._
13. To take the receptive or submissive role in sex or in a BDSM scene or relationship. *(slang)*
   - Simple: To be the partner who receives or gives up control in sex.
   - _The character admits he hasn't bottomed in years._
   - _Whether to top or bottom is a question the app asks up front._
15. To reach or hit the bottom of something, such as a well, hole, or cylinder, so that it can go no lower.
   - Simple: To reach or hit the lowest point of something, so it cannot go any further down.
   - _The borehole bottomed in hard granite at just over two hundred meters._
   - _Use a shorter bolt, or it will bottom in the blind hole before the bracket is tight._
16. To provide something with a bottom; especially to fit a chair with a seat or a vessel with a base.
   - Simple: To put a new seat or base on something, such as a chair.
   - _A cooper would bottom each barrel before fitting the hoops._
   - _The kitchen chairs had been bottomed with fresh straw._
17. To establish or found something on a basis; to ground it on principles, evidence, or authority, now formal, chiefly legal.
   - Simple: To base something on a particular idea or principle, an old and formal use.
   - _The claim was bottomed on a statute that had since been repealed._
   - _Courts bottom such rulings on precedent rather than policy._
18. To lie on the bottom of something, to underlie it; chiefly passive, 'bottomed with', describing what covers or forms the base.
   - Simple: To lie underneath something or form its lowest layer, usually in the passive.
   - _The old quarry pool, bottomed with pale clay, looked milky green in the afternoon light._
   - _Each tide pool was bottomed with pink pebbles and tiny shells that glittered whenever the sun came out._

## Noun

20. In British slang, solid character: reliability, staying power, dignity, integrity, or sound judgment; chiefly in 'to lack bottom' or 'to have bottom'. *(dated, British)*
   - Simple: In British slang, strength of character, or the ability to keep going.
   - _A candidate may be clever and still lack bottom._
   - _For all his charm, the new captain lacked bottom, and the players knew it._

## Other meanings

- (noun) Short for bottom quark: the third-generation quark with charge −1/3, symbol b.
- (noun) In music, the bass or baritone instruments of a band, taken together.
- (noun) A measure of liquor put in a glass first, then topped up with soda water.
- (noun) Thread or yarn wound into a ball or loose coil, or a cocoon spun by an insect.
- (noun) A spool or bobbin with thread wound on it.
- (noun) The sludge or residue that sinks and collects at the base of a liquid, such as coffee grounds or wine dregs.
- (verb) To start a mixed drink by pouring the liquor in first, leaving room for soda.
- (verb) To wind thread or yarn into a ball or onto a spool.
- (verb) To rest on something as a foundation, or to have its basis in it.

## Origin

This word comes from Middle English "botme," from Old English "botm" (bottom, foundation, ground, abyss), tracing back through Proto-Germanic to the Proto-Indo-European root *bʰudʰmḗn ("bottom"). It is related to Dutch "bodem," German "Boden," Ancient Greek "puthmḗn" (bottom of a cup), and Latin "fundus" (bottom); the sense "posterior of a person" was already in use by the late 1700s.

Source: DictionaryAI, https://dictionaryai.com/define/bottom (written from Wiktionary data, CC BY-SA 4.0: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/).