touch bottom

Idioms and Phrases

Reach the lowest point, as in During the recession the economists kept saying that we hadn't touched bottom yet . This metaphor for reaching the ground under a body of water has been used since the mid-1800s.

Example Sentences

“Slowly but steadily, the male gently pushed the pup to shore until it could touch bottom,” the study said.

From Seattle Times

You have to touch bottom before you can kind of start to come back up again.

From Salon

Dicey and James were tall enough to touch bottom, but the water was over the heads of the smaller children.

From Literature

Every now and then she lowered a tentative foot to touch bottom.

From Literature

“There you go,” he said, when I was able to touch bottom again.

From The New Yorker

Related Words

• capsize
• decline
• descend
• dig
• dip
• disappear
• drill
• drive
• drop
• drown
• fall
• go down
• lower
• overturn
• plummet
• plunge
• ram
• sag
• settle
• slump