1) A bundle of hay, hemp, straw or the like, in some cases a specific quantity.
1477 all … mesures, that is to say, busshell … pek and half pek and bottells of hay, and at [that] the bottells kepe a sufficient weght accorddyng to the statuts in the Chaumbre, York
1528 that evere inholder … shall have in his hows redy mayd bottells of hey, York
1621 for stealing a bottle of hay, Thirsk
1726 noo bottles of whins be carried out of the land moore, Reighton. Used occasionally as a verb: 1686 going into his master’s barn to fodder his beastes found William Riddehough … bottelling up fifteen sheaves of oates, Clayton.
2) A vessel with a narrow neck for holding liquids. Now usually of glass it was made of a variety of materials in earlier centuries.
1347 deus botels d’argent ove escuchons des armes
1550 a ledder bottell, Wakefield
1562 one bottill of wood 4d
one tyne bottell 12d, Richmond
1573 ij litill tyn bottels, Gilling
1668 a wood bottle, Selby. In 1381, Johannes Botelmaker was taxed in Beverley and in 1596 the Beverley Company of Carpinters, Joyners, etc. included Bottell Turners.