1
general::
Repress, contain, hold back; also, confine or trap. For example, The psychiatrist said Eve had been bottling up her anger for years, or The accident bottled up traffic for miles. This idiom likens other kinds of restraint to liquid being contained in a bottle. [Mid-1800s]
American Heritage Idioms
2
general::
Phrase(s): bottle something up
1. Lit. to put some sort of liquid into bottles. • She bottled her homemade chili sauce up and put the bottles in a box. • She bottled up a lot of the stuff. 2. Fig. to constrict something as if it were put in a bottle. • The patrol boats bottled the other boats up at the locks on the river. • The police bottled up the traffic while they searched the cars for the thieves. 3. and bottle something up (inside (someone)) Fig. to hold one’s feelings within; to keep from saying something that one feels strongly about. • Let’s talk about it, John. You shouldn’t bottle it up. • Don’t bottle up your problems. It’s better to talk them out. • Don’t bottle it up inside you. • Don’t bottle up all your feelings.
McGrawhill's American Idioms And Phrasal Verbs