Bottom \Bot"tom\ (b[o^]t"t[u^]m), 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.
[root]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.
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Or dive into the bottom of the deep. --Shak.
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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.
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Barrels with the bottom knocked out. --Macaulay.
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No two chairs were alike; such high backs and low
backs and leather bottoms and worsted bottoms. --W.
Irving.
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3. That upon which anything rests or is founded, in a literal
or a figurative sense; foundation; groundwork.
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4. The bed of a body of water, as of a river, lake, sea.
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5. The fundament; the buttocks.
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6. An abyss. [Obs.] --Dryden.
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7. Low land formed by alluvial deposits along a river;
low-lying ground; a dale; a valley. "The bottoms and the
high grounds." --Stoddard.
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8. (Naut.) The part of a ship which is ordinarily under
water; hence, the vessel itself; a ship.
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My ventures are not in one bottom trusted. --Shak.
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Not to sell the teas, but to return them to London
in the
same bottoms in which they were shipped. --Bancroft.
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Full bottom, a hull of such shape as permits carrying a
large amount of merchandise.
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9. Power of endurance; as, a horse of a good bottom.
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10. Dregs or grounds; lees; sediment. --Johnson.
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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.
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He was at the bottom of many excellent counsels.
--Addison.
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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.
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