bottle up

verb

1. to restrain (powerful emotion)
2. to keep (an army or other force) contained or trapped

   the French fleet was bottled up in Le Havre

Idioms and Phrases

Repress, contain, hold back; also, confine or trap. For example, The psychiatrist said Eve had been bottling up her anger for years , or The accident bottled up traffic for miles . This idiom likens other kinds of restraint to liquid being contained in a bottle. [Mid-1800s]

Example Sentences

For some, trying to suppress their tics in class led to them bottling up their anxiety and avoiding school entirely.

From BBC

Which is exactly why Trump will stop at nothing to try to keep it bottled up.

From Los Angeles Times

With suicide the biggest killer of men under 50 in the UK, a new film explores why many men still bottle up their emotions, and asks whether such ingrained, systemic behaviour can be changed.

From BBC

But the Bruins find a way better than anyone else to bottle up the Panthers.

From Seattle Times

At the castle, by contrast, such natural feeling is bottled up.

From Los Angeles Times

Related Words

• repress
• suppress