From Longman Dictionary of Contemporary Englishbottle something ↔ up phrasal verb1 HIDE/NOT SHOWto deliberately not allow yourself to show a strong feeling or emotion It is far better to cry than to bottle up your feelings.2 to cause problems by delaying something The bill has been bottled up in Congress. → bottle→ See Verb table
Examples from the Corpus
bottle up• He was a great believer in expressing aggression, not bottling it up.• Nearly six months after the tragedy, he's still bottling it up.• You will be better off saying your piece and seeing what happens rather than keep bottling things up.• If he'd tried to bottle it up he would have exploded one way or the other long before now.• I've been bottling it up inside me far too long.• If I bottle it up, then it bursts out.• Yes, he said he found the bottle washed up to shore about an hour ago. 