bottle-feed

[ bot-l-feed ]

verb (used with object)

, bot·tle-fed, bot·tle-feed·ing.

1. to nurse or feed (an infant or young animal) with milk or other nourishment from a nursing bottle.
2. to nurture or teach with exaggerated care:

   We had to bottle-feed the new salesman on how to make door-to-door calls.

verb (used without object)

, bot·tle-fed, bot·tle-feed·ing.

1. to feed an infant or young animal from a nursing bottle.

bottle-feed

verb

1. to feed (a baby) with milk from a bottle instead of breast-feeding

Word History and Origins

Origin of bottle-feed¹

First recorded in 1860–65

Example Sentences

She later told Rolling Stone that she agreed to be part of the project because Cunningham was “a big animal person” who “would even come out early just so he can help bottle-feed some of our baby hoofstock.”

From Los Angeles Times

I watched doctors in the intensive care unit bottle-feed an injured six-month-old girl whose parents can't be found.

From BBC

In an email, Mike Ridgway, the child’s father, said he had given Ramirez “space to both nurse and to pump milk for me to bottle-feed our daughter while she is in my care.”

From Washington Post

Or bottle-feed a joey on Australia’s Kangaroo Island?

From New York Times

Domingo-Garcia’s story went viral shortly after ICE raided her poultry plant, when it was reported that her breastfeeding four-month old daughter was struggling to learn to bottle-feed.

From Slate

Related Words

• cradle
• feed
• nourish