. 1. a location or situation in which otherwise rapid progress is impeded. [ PJC ]
2. a point at which road traffic slows due to congestion or narrowing of the roadway. [ PJC ]
3. an impasse. [ PJC ]
4. a narrowing. Syn. -- constriction. [ WordNet 1.5 ]
v. t. same as obstruct; as, his laziness has bottlenecked our efforts to reform the system. [ WordNet 1.5 ]
v. i. to become narrower as one approaches a point; -- said of roads; as, right by the bridge, the road bottlenecks. [ WordNet 1.5 ]