bottle imp

noun

1. Cartesian diver.

Word History and Origins

Origin of bottle imp¹

First recorded in 1815–25

Example Sentences

“Now colors are gentler and fewer; smells are antiseptic. Now when I peek in the basement window where the villagers say they see a girl dancing like a bottle imp, I can no longer see a spirit in a skirt made of light, but a voiceless girl dancing when she thought no one was looking.”

From New York Times

Now when I peek in the basement window where the villagers say they see a girl dancing like a bottle imp, I can no longer see a spirit in a skirt made of light, but a voiceless girl dancing when she thought no one was looking.

From Literature

He’s one of the genii or a bottle imp.

From Project Gutenberg

With the exception of an occasional fling at old Mrs. Billing, whom he seemed to regard as a joss or a bottle imp, he was temperate, too, in his remarks about everybody else.

From Project Gutenberg

The Bottle Imp, with Farley Granger, and Geoffrey Holder, a calypso singer and dancer, in a bizarre tale of voodoo.

From Time Magazine Archive