bottleneck

Meanings

1. 1
   noun

   a point of congestion that slows or limits a process or flow

   The single checkout lane became the bottleneck of the whole store.

A compound of bottle + neck, from the narrow neck of a bottle that restricts flow, applied figuratively to any point of constriction. Bottle is from Old French boteille, from Late Latin butticula; neck from Old English hnecca.

Topics