bottleneck en · NOUN
Pronunciation
- (US) audio
Etymology
Etymology tree Proto-Indo-European *bʰeHw-der. Ancient Greekbor.? Latin buttis Proto-Indo-European *-lós Proto-Indo-European *-elós Proto-Italic *-elos Proto-Italic *-kelos Latin -culus Late Latin butticula Old French boteillebor. Middle English botel English bottle Proto-Germanic *hnakkô Proto-West Germanic *hnakkō Old English hnecca Middle English nekke English neck English bottleneck From bottle + neck.
Meanings
- The narrow portion that forms the pouring spout of a bottle; the neck of a bottle.
- The narrow portion that forms the pouring spout of a bottle; the neck of a bottle. ▸ A portion of a bottleneck placed on the finger and used as a guitar slide.
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(figuratively) In traffic, any narrowing of the road, especially resulting in a delay.
"Permissive" working allows more than one train to be in a block section at one time but trains must be run at low speed in order to stop on sight behind the train in front. Such working is often authorised to allow freight trains to "bunch" together to await a path through a bottleneck instead of being strung out over several block sections, as would be necessary if absolute working were in force.
1962 October, “Talking of Trains: The collisions at Connington”, in Modern Railways, page 232:At one time, Reading was regarded as a notorious bottleneck in the rail network, almost incapable of managing the number of services that needed to pass through the station each day. [...] A road widening scheme at Cow Lane has also allowed two-way traffic to run beneath the railway for the first time, helping to remove a notorious road traffic bottleneck in the town.
2020 December 2, Andy Coward, “New-look Reading is willing and able”, in Rail, pages 58, 59:
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(broadly, figuratively) The part of a process that is too slow or cumbersome due to the lessening of available throughput.
The bottleneck in this computer program is the inefficient sorting process; we should replace it with a faster one.
It is easy to create entries; processing the paperwork is the bottleneck.
Forms
| Spelling | Features | Labels | Source |
|---|---|---|---|
| bottlenecks | Number=Plur | lexicographic |
Deriveds
bottleneck inflation · bottleneck guitar · debottleneck · deuterium bottleneck · postbottleneck · antibottleneck · population bottleneck · prebottleneck · genetic bottleneck
Synonyms
Translations (116)
it strettoia (narrowing of the road, especially resulting in a delay) · ru го́рлышко буты́лки (neck of a bottle) · pl szyjka (neck of a bottle) · ca embús (part of a process that is too slow or cumbersome) · it collo di bottiglia (part of a process that is too slow or cumbersome) · sv flaskhals (part of a process that is too slow or cumbersome) · it strozzatura (narrowing of the road, especially resulting in a delay) · ga bac (part of a process that is too slow or cumbersome) · ja 瓶の首 (neck of a bottle) · ru у́зкое ме́сто (part of a process that is too slow or cumbersome) · ms kejejalan (neck of a bottle) · ja 隘路 (narrowing of the road, especially resulting in a delay) · nl knelpunt (part of a process that is too slow or cumbersome) · ja ネック (part of a process that is too slow or cumbersome) · ca embussament (part of a process that is too slow or cumbersome) · nb flaskehals (part of a process that is too slow or cumbersome) · ca coll d'ampolla (narrowing of the road, especially resulting in a delay) · sh грлић (neck of a bottle) · pl przewężenie (narrowing of the road, especially resulting in a delay) · fi pullonkaula (narrowing of the road, especially resulting in a delay) · cs zúžení (narrowing of the road, especially resulting in a delay) · ru дефиле́ (narrowing of the road, especially resulting in a delay) · ja ボトルネック (part of a process that is too slow or cumbersome) · fi pullonkaula (part of a process that is too slow or cumbersome) · hu útszűkület (narrowing of the road, especially resulting in a delay) · it collo di bottiglia (neck of a bottle) · it imbuto (part of a process that is too slow or cumbersome) · ms kejejalan (narrowing of the road, especially resulting in a delay) · ga scrogall buidéil (neck of a bottle) · mk грло на шише (neck of a bottle) · nl flessenhals (neck of a bottle) · ga scrogall (neck of a bottle) · nn flaskehals (part of a process that is too slow or cumbersome) · ca coll d'ampolla (neck of a bottle) · sv flaskhals (neck of a bottle) · pl zwężenie (narrowing of the road, especially resulting in a delay) · hu palacknyak (neck of a bottle) · sh уско грло (part of a process that is too slow or cumbersome) · sv flaskhals (narrowing of the road, especially resulting in a delay) · fr goulot de bouteille (neck of a bottle) · mn лонхны хүзүү (neck of a bottle) · ga caolas tráchta (narrowing of the road, especially resulting in a delay) · ar عُنُق الزُّجَاجَة (neck of a bottle) · sh grlić (neck of a bottle) · da flaskehals (narrowing of the road, especially resulting in a delay) · it strettoia (part of a process that is too slow or cumbersome) · cs úzké místo (part of a process that is too slow or cumbersome) · fr tête de bouteille (neck of a bottle) · de Flaschenhals (part of a process that is too slow or cumbersome) · sh сужење (narrowing of the road, especially resulting in a delay) · sh usko grlo (part of a process that is too slow or cumbersome) · fi pullonkaula (neck of a bottle) · ba тар урын (part of a process that is too slow or cumbersome) · es embudo (narrowing of the road, especially resulting in a delay) · grc ἀπορία (part of a process that is too slow or cumbersome) · gl gorgozo (neck of a bottle) · nb flaskehals (neck of a bottle) · da flaskehals (neck of a bottle) · pt gargalo (part of a process that is too slow or cumbersome) · fr goulet d'étranglement (part of a process that is too slow or cumbersome) · pl wąskie gardło (part of a process that is too slow or cumbersome) · de Engpass (part of a process that is too slow or cumbersome) · sh suženje (narrowing of the road, especially resulting in a delay) · it imbuto (narrowing of the road, especially resulting in a delay) · mk стесну́вање (narrowing of the road, especially resulting in a delay) · ba тар урын (narrowing of the road, especially resulting in a delay) · de Flaschenhals (narrowing of the road, especially resulting in a delay) · is flöskuháls (neck of a bottle) · ms cerutan (narrowing of the road, especially resulting in a delay) · it strozzatura (part of a process that is too slow or cumbersome) · is stútur (neck of a bottle) · es cuello de botella (part of a process that is too slow or cumbersome) · de Flaschenhals (neck of a bottle) · nn flaskehals (neck of a bottle) · ru го́рлышко (neck of a bottle) · is þrengsli (narrowing of the road, especially resulting in a delay) · cs úzké hrdlo (narrowing of the road, especially resulting in a delay) · es garganta (narrowing of the road, especially resulting in a delay) · tl pagsisikip (narrowing of the road, especially resulting in a delay) · ru суже́ние (narrowing of the road, especially resulting in a delay) · ca coll d'ampolla (part of a process that is too slow or cumbersome) · fr goulot (neck of a bottle) · nb flaskehals (narrowing of the road, especially resulting in a delay) · de Engpass (narrowing of the road, especially resulting in a delay) · es estrangulamiento (narrowing of the road, especially resulting in a delay) · es gollete (narrowing of the road, especially resulting in a delay) · ba шешә ауыҙы (neck of a bottle) · ru у́зкое ме́сто (narrowing of the road, especially resulting in a delay) · ru зато́р (part of a process that is too slow or cumbersome) · mk за́стој (part of a process that is too slow or cumbersome) · ru про́бка (part of a process that is too slow or cumbersome) · cmn 瓶頸 /瓶颈 (neck of a bottle) · fa گلوگاه (narrowing of the road, especially resulting in a delay) · ca embús (narrowing of the road, especially resulting in a delay) · es boquerón (narrowing of the road, especially resulting in a delay) · nn flaskehals (narrowing of the road, especially resulting in a delay) · ru у́зкий прохо́д (narrowing of the road, especially resulting in a delay) · cs hrdlo lahve (neck of a bottle) · es embotellamiento (narrowing of the road, especially resulting in a delay) · es cuello de botella (neck of a bottle) · ca embussament (narrowing of the road, especially resulting in a delay) · cmn 耽誤 /耽误 (part of a process that is too slow or cumbersome) · ms cerutan (neck of a bottle) · ug جوغا (neck of a bottle) · da flaskehals (part of a process that is too slow or cumbersome) · pt engarrafamento (narrowing of the road, especially resulting in a delay) · pt gargalo (neck of a bottle) · hu szűk keresztmetszet (part of a process that is too slow or cumbersome) · es cuello (narrowing of the road, especially resulting in a delay) · de Engstelle (narrowing of the road, especially resulting in a delay) · it collo di bottiglia (narrowing of the road, especially resulting in a delay) · ga scrogall tráchta (narrowing of the road, especially resulting in a delay) · nl bottleneck (part of a process that is too slow or cumbersome) · tl salangkipot (narrowing of the road, especially resulting in a delay) · es atasco (part of a process that is too slow or cumbersome) · es cuello de botella (narrowing of the road, especially resulting in a delay)