Meaning of "He's got more bottle than a milkman"

I was watching a game of snooker the other day and heard one of the commentators say "This player has got more bottle than a milkman" after a particularly good shot. What does this mean and how could it be used in other contexts?

PS. google yields no useful results for this expression.

Solution 1:

In this context bottle is probably the informal BrE term for 'nerve' or 'courage'.

British informal mass noun The courage or confidence needed to do something difficult or dangerous.

’I lost my bottle completely and ran’

_{ODO, sense 2.}

To say that someone has "more bottle than a milkman" is a jocular way of saying that he is very bold: a milkman, who delivers milk to homes, of course has a lot of bottles.

Solution 2:

It is Cockney rhyming slang, from "bottle and glass", which rhymes with "arse". So it is an inoffensive way of saying "arse", which in this context means "courage" (I'm not quite sure why).

It is common in the phrase "to lose one's bottle": "I lost my bottle completely when I saw the knife in 'is 'and." Any native speaker of British English would understand it (although I don't think they would all know its origin as rhyming slang).

Edited to add: After reading the answers at this link from @StoneyB's comment, I am less certain about this than I was.

Solution 3:

It could be that it comes from when beer made by Courage came in bottles. http://aldertons.com/home/slang/

If you want milk, put the Ari on the doorstep. [Every now and again they throw a curve at you. One person has suggested that, not being familiar with Aristotle, early Cockney's might have assumed the name was Harry Stottle! Heard from John Mahony who says that when one uses the expression "lose your bottle" it means to lose the contents of your arse, i.e. "he's shit it", but Ken Caleno says it means to lose your courage (from Courage's bottled beer)]