bottom \bot"tom\ bo^t"tu^m, n. oe. botum, botme, as.
   botm; akin to os. bodom, d. bodem, ohg. podam, g. boden,
   icel. botn, sw. botten, dan. bund for budn, l. fundus for
   fudnus, gr. pyqmh`n for fyqmh`n, skr. budhna for
   bhudhna, and ir. bonn sole of the foot, w. bon stem, base.
   root257. cf. 4th found, fund, n.
   1. the lowest part of anything; the foot; as, the bottom of a
      tree or well; the bottom of a hill, a lane, or a page.
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            or dive into the bottom of the deep.  --shak.
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   2. the part of anything which is beneath the contents and
      supports them, as the part of a chair on which a person
      sits, the circular base or lower head of a cask or tub, or
      the plank floor of a ship's hold; the under surface.
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            barrels with the bottom knocked out.  --macaulay.
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            no two chairs were alike; such high backs and low
            backs and leather bottoms and worsted bottoms. --w.
                                                  irving.
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   3. that upon which anything rests or is founded, in a literal
      or a figurative sense; foundation; groundwork.
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   4. the bed of a body of water, as of a river, lake, sea.
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   5. the fundament; the buttocks.
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   6. an abyss. obs. --dryden.
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   7. low land formed by alluvial deposits along a river;
      low-lying ground; a dale; a valley. "the bottoms and the
      high grounds." --stoddard.
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   8. naut. the part of a ship which is ordinarily under
      water; hence, the vessel itself; a ship.
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            my ventures are not in one bottom trusted. --shak.
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            not to sell the teas, but to return them to london
            in the
            same bottoms in which they were shipped. --bancroft.
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   full bottom, a hull of such shape as permits carrying a
      large amount of merchandise.
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   9. power of endurance; as, a horse of a good bottom.
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   10. dregs or grounds; lees; sediment. --johnson.
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   at bottom, at the bottom, at the foundation or basis; in
      reality. "he was at the bottom a good man." --j. f.
      cooper.

   to be at the bottom of, to be the cause or originator of;
      to be the source of. usually in an opprobrious sense.
      --j. h. newman.
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            he was at the bottom of many excellent counsels.
                                                  --addison.
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   to go to the bottom, to sink; esp. to be wrecked.

   to touch bottom, to reach the lowest point; to find
      something on which to rest.
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see also:
found fund full bottom at bottom at the bottom to be at the bottom of 
to go to the bottom to touch bottom