A container (usually made of glass) used to hold liquids, or by extension, something preserved in a liquid, such as fruits and vegetables. The term also refers to the action of bottle up, or enclose in a vessel – to suffocate someone, for example.
A common concern among parents is leakage from bottles, which is why we only tested bottles that were rated leak-free by independent testing organizations. The more pieces and openings a bottle has, the more opportunities it has to leak. We therefore looked for bottles that were easy to assemble, and that incorporated simple, straightforward design features.
Our top pick was the Munchkin Classic Feeding Bottle, which was easy to assemble and take apart, and had large openings that were easy for baby hands to maneuver. It was also easy to refill, and it did not leak during assembly, disassembly, or while being filled. Another bottle that stood out was the Dr. Brown’s Organic Formula & Breast Milk Bottle, which was also easy to assemble and disassemble, and had a large opening that was easy for baby hands to handle. It was a bit more expensive than some of the other bottles we tested, but it was one of the few that did not leak during assembly, disassembly and while being filled or unfilled.
We also liked the Avent Classic Bottle, which was easy to assemble and disassemble, and whose large openings were easy for baby hands to maneuver. It also had a very short and concise set of instructions that were easy to follow, which was a big plus during groggy nighttime feedings. The only drawback was that the Avent was somewhat more expensive than some of the other bottles we test drove, and it did not have a volume marking on its side.
In a more scientific vein, the research that led to this article suggests that understanding how ideal glasses — glass that is close enough to a perfect disordered state to be solid — are made could help scientists understand and develop better materials, such as smartphones that are bendable or less likely to break, or nuclear waste containers that can trap uranium for longer periods of time.
This glossary describes the specialized terminology used on this site, or more generally in historic bottle collecting and glassmaking. Some of it is collector jargon, some is technical jargon, and some is simply slang.
The base plate is the part of a bottle mold that forms the bottom of a hand-blown bottle. It may be flat or rounded, and it can be joined to the blank mold by ghost seams on two opposite sides of the bottle. The baffle mark on the base is a seam that results from a joint between the base plate and the blank mold on a machine-made bottle. (Source: Tooley 1953:452)
The body of a bottle is the central portion that contains the content, typically wine or beer. It may be round or oval, and it can be narrower or wider than the neck. See the General Bottle Morphology page for a visual illustration.
