to bottom out
1
6.5
- phrasal verb
- /ˈbɑːtəm aʊt/
:
tocar el suelo
- The point is that temperatures were spiking down below -40°C, bottoming out at just below -50°C thanks to some seriously harsh winds.
- suspension bottomed out
- clubhead to bottom out
- front suspension bottoms out
Examples
-
At this point, my meter had completely bottomed out to 0.
Blog text (28) -
So it goes from actuation to really quickly bottoming out because you have that much force on it to actuate it.
-
His checking account had bottomed out each month while he waited for his scholarship money, but he was never overdrawn.
Fiction book (1990) -
From the crests, it looks as though Big Link won't make it, that he'll bottom out, rear end scraping asphalt, front bumper crumpled into the ascent.
Fiction book (2002) -
The only trick is to close the screw the moment the handlebar brake lever bottoms out; don't wait even a second, or air bubbles can retract into the caliper.
Blog text (28) -
After hitting a large bump, the car bottomed out and scraped the pavement.
-
The truck constantly bottomed out over the rough dirt road, making the ride very uncomfortable.
-
When driving over the steep incline, I felt the vehicle bottom out as it hit the ground hard.
Antonyms
Surface Forms
Morphology
The core sense 'to reach the lowest point' is directly built from 'bottom' (reach the lowest point) plus the particle 'out' signaling completion or extent, so learners who know both words can generally infer the main meaning. However, the conventional inference that this low point is a turning point 'before starting to improve' is a pragmatic extension that may not be fully predictable from the parts alone, so the expression is not fully transparent.
Etymology
Bottom out: The verb bottom out comes from the image of a vehicle in a deep dip where the bottom of the car hits the ground and can no longer go down. That's why it means 'to reach such a low point that the underside touches the ground'.