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Bolt   /boʊlt/   Listen
noun
Bolt  n.  
1.
A shaft or missile intended to be shot from a crossbow or catapult, esp. a short, stout, blunt-headed arrow; a quarrel; an arrow, or that which resembles an arrow; a dart. "Look that the crossbowmen lack not bolts." "A fool's bolt is soon shot."
2.
Lightning; a thunderbolt.
3.
A strong pin, of iron or other material, used to fasten or hold something in place, often having a head at one end and screw thread cut upon the other end.
4.
A sliding catch, or fastening, as for a door or gate; the portion of a lock which is shot or withdrawn by the action of the key.
5.
An iron to fasten the legs of a prisoner; a shackle; a fetter. (Obs.) "Away with him to prison! lay bolts enough upon him."
6.
A compact package or roll of cloth, as of canvas or silk, often containing about forty yards.
7.
A bundle, as of oziers.
Bolt auger, an auger of large size; an auger to make holes for the bolts used by shipwrights.
Bolt and nut, a metallic pin with a head formed upon one end, and a movable piece (the nut) screwed upon a thread cut upon the other end. Note: See Tap bolt, Screw bolt, and Stud bolt.



Bolt  n.  
1.
A sudden spring or start; a sudden spring aside; as, the horse made a bolt.
2.
A sudden flight, as to escape creditors. "This gentleman was so hopelessly involved that he contemplated a bolt to America or anywhere."
3.
(U. S. Politics) A refusal to support a nomination made by the party with which one has been connected; a breaking away from one's party.



Bolt  n.  A sieve, esp. a long fine sieve used in milling for bolting flour and meal; a bolter.



verb
Bolt  v. t.  (past & past part. bolted; pres. part. bolting)  
1.
To shoot; to discharge or drive forth.
2.
To utter precipitately; to blurt or throw out. "I hate when Vice can bolt her arguments."
3.
To swallow without chewing; as, to bolt food; often used with down.
4.
(U. S. Politics) To refuse to support, as a nomination made by a party to which one has belonged or by a caucus in which one has taken part.
5.
(Sporting) To cause to start or spring forth; to dislodge, as conies, rabbits, etc.
6.
To fasten or secure with, or as with, a bolt or bolts, as a door, a timber, fetters; to shackle; to restrain. "Let tenfold iron bolt my door." "Which shackles accidents and bolts up change."



Bolt  v. t.  (past & past part. bolted; pres. part. bolting)  
1.
To sift or separate the coarser from the finer particles of, as bran from flour, by means of a bolter; to separate, assort, refine, or purify by other means. "He now had bolted all the flour." "Ill schooled in bolted language."
2.
To separate, as if by sifting or bolting; with out. "Time and nature will bolt out the truth of things."
3.
(Law) To discuss or argue privately, and for practice, as cases at law.
To bolt to the bran, to examine thoroughly, so as to separate or discover everything important. "This bolts the matter fairly to the bran." "The report of the committee was examined and sifted and bolted to the bran."



Bolt  v. i.  
1.
To start forth like a bolt or arrow; to spring abruptly; to come or go suddenly; to dart; as, to bolt out of the room. "This Puck seems but a dreaming dolt,... And oft out of a bush doth bolt."
2.
To strike or fall suddenly like a bolt. "His cloudless thunder bolted on their heads."
3.
To spring suddenly aside, or out of the regular path; as, the horse bolted.
4.
(U.S. Politics) To refuse to support a nomination made by a party or a caucus with which one has been connected; to break away from a party.



adverb
Bolt  adv.  In the manner of a bolt; suddenly; straight; unbendingly. "(He) came bolt up against the heavy dragoon."
Bolt upright.
(a)
Perfectly upright; perpendicular; straight up; unbendingly erect.
(b)
On the back at full length. (Obs.)






Collaborative International Dictionary of English 0.48








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"Bolt" Quotes from Famous Books



... 'cuz they seen him to the meetin' house. Poot soon when they git a little older 'n' they find out how you been afoolin' 'em about Santy Claus, they'll wonder if what you been a-tellin' 'em about the Good Man ain't off o' the same bolt o' goods, an' another one o' them cunningly devised fables. Think they'll come any blessin' on tellin' a lie? An' a-actin' it out? No, sir. No, sir. Ain't ary good thing to a lie, no way you kin fix it. How kin they be? Who's ...
— Back Home • Eugene Wood

... of Hungary has taken all power in its own hands. Like a bolt from the blue the workers, soldiers and peasants of 'conquered' Hungary proclaim their intervention in the arena of world politics—and the diplomats of capitalism are thrown into a flurry of mingled ...
— The Red Conspiracy • Joseph J. Mereto

... of Aluga, and pushed on for Bukowitza and Shawnik, where the invasion would be stopped with certainty. Half way to Bukowitza there burst on us a terrific thunderstorm, with torrents of rain. One bolt struck so near us that the concussion knocked my perianik down, and my horse jumped up on all fours as I never saw a horse do before, but neither was touched by the lightning, and we arrived at the ...
— The Autobiography of a Journalist, Volume II • William James Stillman

... fishes kind. "Mother, I did not desairve you!" she cried. "I do wish I had been better to you!" And what had her mother got for being a romantic, a poet, and a saint who worked miracles? Nothing. This snoring death in a hospital was life's final award to her. It could not possibly be so. She sat bolt upright, her mouth a round hole with horror, restating the problem. But it was so. A virtuous woman was being allowed to die without having ...
— The Judge • Rebecca West

... since the martyrdom of Stephen, which were undermining his convictions, and the very insanity of his zeal may have been due to an uneasy consciousness that the ground was yielding beneath his feet. That may have been so, but, whether it were so or not, the crisis came like a bolt out of the blue, and he was checked in full career, as if a voice had spoken to the sea in its wildest storm, and frozen its waves ...
— Expositions Of Holy Scripture - Volume I: St. Luke, Chaps. I to XII • Alexander Maclaren


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