false bottom

3 7.5

A hidden board in a box or trunk that makes a secret space for hiding things

noun

: fondo falso

The clever thief hid the jewels in a false bottom of the old chest.
box with a false bottom
false bottom in the trunk
make a false bottom

Examples

Captain, it's a false bottom.

Unknown (2006)
While examining it, he discovered it had a false bottom.

Fiction book (1993)
- It's a door with a false bottom.

Death's Door (2015)
Could be a false bottom there.

13 Sins (2014)
Now, what has it got, a false bottom?

Frantic (1988)
It's got a false bottom.

The Taking of Pelham 1 2 3 (2009)
I found a false bottom but no guns.

The Comancheros (1961)
Underneath the false bottom, we found this.

The Siege (1998)
It has a false bottom.

Fiction book (1995)
Jesse cut the connection, folded the phone, and put it into the false bottom he had made in his lunch box.

Fiction book (1994)

Synonyms

compartment

vsfalse bottom

150 3.3

A small separate space inside a bigger thing where you keep things

is a special partition placed above the container floor to hide contents

Surface Forms

false bottom singular

false bottoms plural

Morphology

false + bottom

The meaning (a non-genuine bottom serving as a hidden partition) is directly derivable from combining 'false' (deceptive/imitative) with 'bottom' (the lowest part), i.e. a bottom that is not the real one. This adjective+noun composition is transparent and cross-linguistically common, so a B1 learner who knows both constituents can reasonably infer the MWE's meaning.

Etymology

The noun false bottom comes from the simple image of a box or trunk with a fake lower layer. Here false means 'not real' and bottom is the lower part of the container. That's why false bottom now means a 'hidden compartment' or a partition that hides items.