Dictionary

bottom-line en · VERB

Etymology

A verbal form of bottom line.

Meanings

1. (idiomatic, informal, transitive) To set a minimum acceptable rule, boundary, or condition for (someone).
   • If, as you say, your Rik has safeguarded Chinese orphans in the streets, put friends through school, he doesn't sound like a man who walks away. He's a sticker. He isn't finished with something until he bottom lines it. 2016, Madelon Smid, High Risk:
   • In today's verse, we're given the secret to living a life marked by wisdom and blessed by prosperity. David doesn't mince words. He bottom-lines it. And his hope is to take the guesswork out of living right with God. 2020, Barbour Staff (compiler), Daily Wisdom for Women, page 24:
   • Thanks to Kim, her husband is also living a sober, productive life. When he came to visit her at the hospital one day, she "bottom-lined" him. 1987, Engage/Social Action, volume 15, page 33:
   • And in the next breath he said, "And what are you going to do about it?" He "bottom lined" me with those words. I put the cork in the bottle, and this time, I approached sobriety differently. 2013, Robert C. Kelly, A Boy Walks Into a Bar, page 122:
   • "Barn could work if you have a light source or a sunroom off your back porch, " he added hopefully. "What are you thinking?" Huck bottom-lined him. 2023, Sinclair Jayne, Marry Me Please, Cowboy:
   • The most common mistake a man makes when initiating sex with his woman is "bottom-lining" it. Now, this approach may be good for you in your life, your work, and the way you best communicate. However, when it comes to sex with your woman, you will need to throw this approach out the window. 2010, Bree Maresca-Kramer, It's That Simple!, A Man's Book on Relationships, Life, Ourselves and the Healing of It All, page 134:
2. (idiomatic, informal, transitive) To provide a summary or the result; to provide the most important or relevant information.
   • And then he bottom lines and says the tragedies of the great majority of these deaths can be readily prevented at low cost. 2014, United States. Congress. House. Committee on Foreign Affairs. Subcommittee on Africa, Global Health, Global Human Rights, and International Organizations, The First One Thousand Days, Development Aid Programs to Bolster Health and Nutrition : Hearing Before the Subcommittee on Africa, Global Health, and Global Human Rights, and International Organizations of the Committee on Foreign Affairs, House of Representatives, One Hundred Thirteenth Congress, Second Session, March 25, 2014, page 15:
   • Anyway, bottom lining it: Sunnis and other extremists are targeting and killing civilians along with Iraqi Security Forces. 2012, David Abrams, Fobbit, A Novel:

Forms