E. Cobham Brewer 1810–1897. Dictionary of Phrase and Fable. 1898.
Punish a Bottle (To).
To drink a bottle of wine or spirits. When the contents have been punished, the empty bottles are “dead men.”
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“After we’d punished a couple of bottles of old Crow whisky … he caved in all of a sudden [he got completely powerless].”—The Barton Experiment, chap. xiv.
