| 释义 |
▪ I. bolt, n.1|bəʊlt|
[OE. bolt (str. masc.) a cross-bow bolt, cogn. with OHG. bolz, mod.G. bolz, bolzen ‘cross-bow arrow’, also ‘bolt for a door’, MDu. and Du. bout, MLG. bolte, bolten bolt, fetter, piece of linen rolled up. The remoter etymology is unknown; but it cannot be referred to the verb stem bul- to swell, be round.]
I. A projectile.
1. a. An arrow; especially one of the stouter and shorter kind with blunt or thickened head, called also quarrel, discharged from a cross-bow or other engine. Often fig., esp. in the proverbial phrase a fool's bolt is soon shot, so common from the 13th to 18th c. † at first bolt: at the first go off.
a1000Gloss. in Wr.-Wülcker 508, 372 Catapultas, speru, boltas. a1225Leg. Kath. 54 Ȝoure bolt is sone ischote. a1275Prov. Alfred 421 in O.E. Misc. 129 Sottis bold is sone i-scoten. c1386Chaucer Miller's T. 78 Long as a Mast, and vprighte as a bolt. a1400Cov. Myst. 136 He that shett the bolt is lyke to be schent. c1475Voc. in Wr.-Wülcker 812 Hec sagitta, a harrow; hoc petulium, a bolt. c1485Caxton Sonnes of Aymon (1885) 529 But he made to be cast boltes of wilde fyre in to the galley of the admyrall. 1562J. Heywood Prov. (1867) 75 Than wolde ye mend, as the fletcher mends his bolte. 1612Pasquil's Night-Cap (1877) 15 The grosser foole, the sooner shootes his bolt. 1676‘A. Rivetus, Jun.’ Mr. Smirke 5 At first bolt..he denounces sentence before inquiry. 1748Smollett Rod. Rand. liii, ‘Zounds, I have done’, said he. ‘Your bolt is soon shot, according to the old proverb’, said she. 1819Scott Ivanhoe II. iv. 70 Look that the cross-bowmen lack not bolts. 1874Boutell Arms & Arm. viii. 129 The cross⁓bow-men had to open the discharge of their bolts while their bow-strings were still wet from a heavy shower.
†b. Phrase. to make a shaft or a bolt of it: to risk making something or other out of it; to accept the issue whatever it may be, to run the risk, make the venture. (Cf. to make a spoon or spoil a horn.) Obs.
1598Shakes. Merry W. iii. iv. 24 Ile make a shaft or a bolt on't, slid, tis but venturing. 1679Hist. Jetzer 17 Without any regard to the Displeasure..of God [they] resolv'd to make a shaft or a bolt of it. 1687R. Lestrange Answ. Dissenter 46 One might have made a Bolt or a Shaft on't.
2. a. A discharge of lightning, a thunderbolt.
1535Coverdale Ps. lxxvii[i]. 48 How he smote their..flockes with hote thonder boltes. 1586M. Roydon Elegie 178. 1667 Milton P.L. vi. 491 That they shall fear we have disarmd The Thunderer of his only dreaded bolt. 1791Cowper Odyss. xiv. 370 Then, thund'ring oft, he hurl'd into the bark His bolts. 1802Campbell Hohenlind., And louder than the bolts of heaven Far flashed the red artillery. 1859Tennyson Vivien ad fin., Scarce had she ceased, when out of heaven a bolt..struck Furrowing a giant oak.
b. fig. So in bolt from the blue: see blue n. 5.
1577tr. Bullinger's Decades (1592) 601 The hote bolts of that thunder, euen sentences definitiue of excommunication. 1803J. Porter Thaddeus viii. (1831) 70 The undistinguishing bolt of carnage. 1884Tennyson Becket 10 That so the Papal bolt may pass by England.
3. An elongated bullet for a rifled cannon.
1871Tyndall Fragm. Sc. (ed. 2) i. 17 In artillery practice the heat generated is usually concentrated upon the front of the bolt.
4. A cylindrical jet.
1842H. Miller O.R. Sandst. x. (ed. 2) 216 A bolt of water..came rushing after like the jet of a fountain. 1884Public Opinion 11 July 47/1 The blowers skilfully gather the molten bolts of glass from the pots and blow huge cylinders.
II. A stout pin for fastening.
5. a. An appliance for fastening a door, consisting of a cylindrical (or otherwise-shaped) piece of iron, etc., moving longitudinally through staples or guides on the door, so that its end can be shot or pushed into a socket in the door-post or lintel.
b. That part of a lock which springs out and enters the staple or ‘keeper’ made for its reception.
c1400Destr. Troy 10463 Þai..Barrit hom full bigly with boltes of yerne. 1463Mann. & Househ. Exp. 155 To bye lokkys and boltys ffor my lorddys schambre. 1570Levins Manip. 218 Y⊇ Boult of a doore, pessulus. 1643Milton Divorce ii. xx. Wks. (1851) 118 Forc't Vertue is as a bolt overshot; it goes neither forward nor backward. 1688R. Holme Armory iii. vii. §8 In a Lock—The Bolt or Shoot..The Staples, those as holds the Bolt to the Plate. 1753Chambers Cycl. Supp. s.v., Bolt of a lock is the piece of iron which entering the staple, fastens the door. 1815Scott Ld. of Isles v. iii, How came it here through bolt and bar.
†6. An iron for fastening the leg, a fetter. Obs.
1483Caxton Gold. Leg. 192/1 Delyuerd of theyr irons, as guyues, boltes, and other. 1530Palsgr. 199/2 Bolte or shacle, entraue. 1590Marlowe Edw. II, i. i. ad fin., He shall to prison, and there die in bolts. 1592Greene Art Conny catch. ii. 31 Clap a strong paire of bolts on his heeles. 1649Jer. Taylor Gt. Exemp. i. iv. 128 Some wore iron upon their skin and bolts upon their legs. 1688R. Holme Armory iii. vii. §86 Prison-shackles or Prisoners Bolts; they are Irons fastned about the Legs of Prisoners.
7. a. A stout metal pin with a head, used for holding things fast together. It may be permanently fixed, secured by riveting or by a nut, as the bolts of a ship; or movable, passing through a hole, as the bolts of a shutter.
The bolts in ships, gun-carriages, etc. have various names according to their nature, purpose, or position, as clinch-bolts, ring-bolts, set-bolts; bed-bolts, eye-bolts, etc. See clinch, ring, etc.
1626Capt. Smith Accid. Yng. Seamen 10 Bindings, knees, boults, trunions. 1627― Seaman's Gram. ii. 5 Set bolts for forcing the workes and plankes together. 1672Compl. Gunner vi. 7 For fear any Bolts should give way or draw. 1769Falconer Dict. Marine (1789) I. iv. b, Breeching-bolts, with rings, through which the breechings pass. 1792Gentl. Mag. Apr. 344 A machine for driving bolts..into ships. 1794W. Felton Carriages (1801) I. 103 The common bolt, which receives a screwed nut at the bottom. 1850Layard Nineveh xiii. 344 Holes for bolts exist in many of the slabs.
b. A sliding metal rod in the breech mechanism of a rifle which opens and closes the bore and positions the cartridge.
1859‘Stonehenge’ Shot-gun & Sporting Rifle iv. iii. 259 The barrel-maker has to braze on with great care two lumps of iron to the lower sides of the barrels, one of which..forms about three-fifths of the socket in which the circular bolt fixed in the stock revolves. In order to understand the exact form of the bolt, a gun on this principle must be examined, and moreover as scarcely any two makers adopt the same shape, the description of one would not suffice for all. 1881W. W. Greener Gun & its Devel. 129 The piece is cocked by the thumb, as is the needle-gun; the bolt is then turned one-quarter of a circle to the left, and drawn back: the cartridge is put in and pushed home by the bolt; this bolt is turned back one-quarter of a circle to the right; the piece is then ready for firing. 1930G. Burrard In Gunroom 122 It is extremely difficult to insert an incorrectly assembled bolt into the action, and this can only be done by a combination of undue force and careful manipulation. 1969[see bolt action in sense 15].
III. Transferred uses.
8. A roll of woven fabric: generally of a definite length; being, in various cases, 30 yards, 28 ells, or 40 feet.
1407Will of Wollebergh (Somerset Ho.), Lego Isabelle Wollebergh..iiij boltes de Worstede. 1592Greene Art Conny catch. Q. 22 A boult of Saten, veluet, or any such commoditie. a1600Custom Duties, Add. MS. 25097 Poldavies, the bolte, containing xxx yards, xxs. 1638T. Verney in Verney Papers 20 May 197 Fouer bolts of canvas to send cotton home in. 1721Bailey, Bolt of Canvas, a piece containing 28 ells. 1834M. Scott Cruise Midge (1863) 18 Stiff and upright like a bolt of canvass on end. c1860H. Stuart Seaman's Catech. 52 Canvas is made in lengths of 40 feet, called bolts. Mod. Sc. How many bowts of tape?
9. A bundle (of osiers, etc.) of a certain size; a bundle of reeds, 3 ft. in circumference.
1725Bradley Fam. Dict. II. s.v. Ozier, Such as are for white work being made up into Bolts as they call them. 1863Morton Cycl. Agric (E.D.S.) Bolt, or Boult, of oziers. (Berks.), a bundle, measuring 42 inches round, 14 inches from the butts. (Ess.), a bundle, of which 80 make a load. (Hants.), 42 inches round at the lower band. 1879Standard 17 Apr., To Rod Dealers, Basket Makers..25 scores bolts of fine, well-grown, clean, Green Willow Rods.
10. Wood in special size for cleaving into laths.
1688R. Holme Armory iii. iii. §50 Boults, the sawed piecces into lengths, out of which Laths or Latts are cloven. 1753Chambers Cycl. Supp., Bolts in carpentry denote pieces of wood cleft with wedges in order to be split into laths.
11. (See quots.)
1875Whitby Gloss. (E.D.S.), Bolts, narrow passages or archways between houses; hiding-holes. In our former-day writings, the word applies to trenches or gutters. 1880Cornwall Gloss. (E.D.S.), Bolt, a stone-built drain. 1884Local Govt. Chron. 8 Mar. 191 A Local Board found it necessary, for the purpose of taking away the waste water, etc. of a village, to construct a covered bolt across a garden..The house..stands immediately over this bolt.
12. Bookbinding. The fold at the top and front edge of a folded sheet.
1875Ure Dict. Arts I. 423 Those leaves which present a double or quadruple fold, technically termed ‘the bolt’.
13. An obsolete or local name for some plants.
a. The Globe-flower, Trollius (Gerard Appendix 1597), and Marsh Marigold.
b. Species of Buttercup (Parkinson Theatr. Bot. 1640).
IV. attrib. and Comb.
14. attrib. quasi-adj. Bolt-like, bolt-shaped.
1859Tennent Ceylon II. viii. v. 368 The smallest had a little bolt head covered with woolly brown hair.
15. Comb., as bolt-auger, bolt-extractor, bolt-header, bolt-maker, bolt-making, etc.; bolt-like, bolt-shaped adjs.; also bolt action (see quot. 19691); also (with hyphen) attrib.; also ellipt. = a bolt-action gun; † bolt-bag, a quiver for bolts; † bolt-boat, old term for a boat which makes good weather in a rough sea (Smyth Sailor's Word-bk.); bolt-chisel, a cold chisel for cutting bolts; bolt-cutter, one who cuts bolts; a machine for cutting bolts, or threads on bolts; † bolt-glass, ? = bolt-head 2; bolt-hole, a hole through which a bolt passes; bolt-iron, round bar iron; † bolt's-shoot, the distance to which a bolt can be shot (cf. stone's throw, bow shot); bolt-strake (Naut.), certain strakes of plank which the beam fastenings pass through (Smyth Sailor's Word-bk.); bolt-threader, a machine for cutting screw-threads on bolts. bolt-head, -rope. bolt-upright; see bolt adv.
1871W. W. Greener Modern Breech-Loaders 52 In all cases where they exploded caps with ‘*bolt’ actions, the mark of the striker was found upon the cap. 1896― Gun & its Devel. (ed. 6) xxx. 702 (heading) Bolt-action systems. 1958R. Arnold Automatic & Repeating Shotguns ii. 46 In the United States the bolt-action has given excellent results at both Down-the-line and Skeet. 1969D. C. Forbes Sporting Gun 137 Bolt action, refers to a gun with a breech which is opened by a bolt being turned and slid back. The cartridge is laid in front of the bolt and the bolt slid forward to push the cartridge into the breech. 1969New Yorker 29 Nov. 150/2 He was carrying a First World War Czech bolt-action rifle.
1562Phaër æneid ix. C c iij, Ratling noyse of *boltbag fine.
1883Harper's Mag. Feb. 440/1 The *bolt-bearer of the gods.
1594Plat Jewell-ho. ii. 44 Pour that which you haue..into a *bolt glasse, hauing a long steale.
1691T. H[ale] Acc. New Invent. 45 To Plugg up the *bolt-holes.
1793Smeaton Edystone L. §147 The *Bolt iron composing the chain had been..five eighths of an inch in diameter.
1677Plot Oxfordsh. 336 About a *Bolts-shoot off, on the other side the hedge.
▪ II. bolt, n.2|bəʊlt|
[f. bolt v.2]
The act of bolting.
1. A sudden spring or start.
1550Lyndesay Sqr. Meldrum 146 Bot with ane bolt on thame he bendit. 1577Hellowes Gueuara's Chron. 335 The two Consuls gaue a boylt aloft on their chariots.
2. The act of suddenly breaking away; breaking away from a political party (U.S. colloq.).
a1859De Quincey Whiggism Wks. VI. 64 He suddenly made a bolt to the very opposite party. 1867F. Francis Angling i. (1880) 62 He will make a bolt to his hold. 1884Pall Mall G. 7 July 11/2 It is the ‘Blaine bolt’ which lends so extraordinary an interest to the Chicago Convention.
3. The act of bolting food.
1835J. Wilson in Blackw. Mag. XXXVII. 133 The difference between a civilized swallow and a barbarous bolt.
4. Comb. bolt-hole.
▪ III. bolt, boult, n.3
In 5 bult(e, 6 bout, 5–7 boult.
[f. bolt v.1]
1. A flour-sieve, a boulter. Hence (or from the verb-stem) † bolt-cloth, a cloth for bolting or sifting; a fabric suitable for this; bolt feeder, an apparatus for regulating the passage of meal to the flour-bolt; † bolt-poke, a bolter or bag for sifting.
c1425Voc. in Wr.-Wülcker 663 Hoc pollitridium, bult⁓clathe. c1440Promp. Parv. 55 Bulte pooke or bulstare..politrudum. 1592Wills & Inv. N.C. (1860) II. 212, xj yards of boutcloth 6s. 1611Book of Rates (Jam.) Boult-claith, the eln xs. 1847Craig, Bolt, a sieve.
2. A hypothetical law case propounded and argued for practice by students of the Inns of Court. (Cf. bolting vbl. n.1 2 b.)
1556Black Books of Lincoln's Inn (1897) I. 316 Everi daye (except Sondayes and festifall dayes, when ther is a mote or a bolte). 1570in R. J. Fletcher Pension-bk. Gray's Inn (1901) I. 4 Item it is ordered..that upon the other dayes not appointed for the moting it shalbe lawfull to the utter baristers to keepe bolts. 1593–in Douthwaite Gray's Inn (1886) 83 None shall be called to the barr but such as..have put Cases at Bolts in Term six times. 1880Encycl. Brit. XIII. 89/1 Bolts were of an analogous character, though deemed inferior to moots. Both had fallen into desuetude until lately. 1956A. L. Rowse Early Churchills ii. 14 The readings, moots and bolts—the public exercises that tested the knowledge acquired by the students from their seniors.
▪ IV. bolt, boult, v.1|bəʊlt|
Forms: 2–3 (Orm.) bullt, 4–6 bult(e, 6 boulte, bowlt, boolt, 5–8 boult, 6– bolt, north. 5–6 bowt, 6 bout.
[a. OF. bulte-r (now bluter):—earlier OF. buleter, which (as appears from OF. buretel boultel, meal-sieve = mod.F. bluteau) is for *bureter = It. burattare; no OF. *buret is recorded, but It. buratto is a meal-sieve, and also ‘a fine transparent cloth’. Diez and Littré refer it originally to bura, bure, a kind of cloth: see bureau, burrell. The historical spelling of the word is boult: unfortunately the dictionaries have confounded it with bolt v.2 (see johnson) and authorized the spelling bolt: cf. boultel.]
1. trans. To sift; to pass through a sieve or bolting-cloth. to bolt out: to separate by sifting.
c1200[see bolted1]. 1398Trevisa Barth. De P.R. xvii. lxvii, The floure of þe mele, whan it is bultid [1535 boulted] and departid from þe bran. 1562J. Heywood Prov. & Epigr. (1867) 51 Fancy may boult bran, and make ye take it floure. 1617Markham Caval. iii. 38 Grinde all these together, and boult them through an ordinarie bolting cloath. 1633Gerard's Herbal ii. cccxl. 912 Pouder of the roots..searced or bolted into most fine dust. 1725Pope Odyss. xx. 134 To bolt the bran From the pure flour. 1871G. H. Napheys Prev. & Cure Dis. i. ii. 77 Flour has the bran bolted from it.
b. transf. and fig.
1599Shakes. Hen. V, ii. ii. 137 Such and so finely boulted didst thou seeme. 1611― Wint. T. iv. iv. 375 The fan'd snow, that's bolted By th' Northerne blasts.
2. fig. To examine by sifting; to search and try. to bolt out: to find out, or separate by sifting.
c1386Chaucer Nun's Pr. T. 420, I ne kan nat bulte it to the bren. 1544R. Ascham Toxoph. i. 97 You Persians for your great wisdom can soon bolt out what they mean. 1553Q. Mary in Strype Eccl. Mem. III App. xiv. 35 Wherby ye may the better bulte out the malicious. 1576Lambarde Peramb. Kent (1826) 375 Neither may I..boult out the whole Etymologie (or reason) of every Townes name. 1640–4Sir B. Rudyard in Rushw. Hist. Coll. iii. (1692) I. 25 Let the matters bolt out the Men; their Actions discover them. 1791Burke Let. Memb. Nat. Assemb. Wks. VI. 49, I must first bolt myself before I can censure them. [1868Browning Ring & Bk. i. 923 The curious few Who care to sift a business to the bran Nor coarsely bolt it like the simpler sort.]
▪ V. bolt, v.2|bəʊlt|
Forms: 3 bulten, 3–4 bult (3rd sing. pa. tense), 5 bult, 6 bolte, Sc. bowt, 6–7 boult, 7 bowlt, 8 Sc. bout, 4– bolt.
[f. bolt n.1 in its two main senses of ‘a missile’ and ‘a fastening’: the former has given rise to uses of the most diverse kinds, connected merely by the common notion of sudden or hasty motion or application of force, some of them being directly contrary to others: cf. ‘to bolt a dart’ 4 a, ‘bolt a cony’ 4 b, ‘bolt a paraphrase’ 5, ‘bolt an egg’, ‘bolt the bill’ 6, ‘bolt the ticket’ 7, besides ‘bolt the door’ 9, ‘bolt a ship’ 10.]
I. To spring, move suddenly, with its causal.
* intr. To go off like a bolt.
†1. To start, spring. Obs.
†a. To spring back, rebound, recoil; to fall violently backward. Obs.
a1225Ancr. R. 366 Hit pulteð up [v.r. hit bultes] aȝean o þeo þet þer neih stondeð. c1400Destr. Troy 7476 Both went backward & bult vppon the erthe.
†b. To spring or start; esp. with up, upright. Obs. or arch.
c1425Wyntoun Cron. ix. viii. 162 Suddanly He boltyd up welle nere-hand þame by Wyth twelf displayed Baneris. 1483Cath. Angl. 36 To Bolt up, emergere. 1594Plat Jewell-ho. iii. 74 They shall not be able to rise or bolt vp againe. 1621Quarles Esther (1638) 90 What made..thy haire Bolt up? a1771Smollett Humph. Cl. (1815) 199 The patient, bolting upright in the bed, collared each of these assistants with the grasp of Hercules. 1813Scott Trierm. ii. x, Screaming with agony and fright, He bolted twenty feet upright.
2. To move or come as with a spring or sudden bound, to dart.
a. To come or spring suddenly upon (obs.); to enter with a spring or sudden bound in, into.
1666Pepys Diary 20 Feb., Bolting into the dining-room, I there found Captain Ferrers. 1666Bunyan Grace Ab. ⁋143 Suddenly this sentence bolted in upon me. 1709Steele Tatler No. 91 ⁋1 Who came privately in a Chair, and bolted into my Room. 1779Johnson Lett. 225 II. 96, I think to bolt upon you at Bath. 1839De Quincey Murder Wks. IV. 72 In therefore he bolted and..turned the key. 1840Gen. P. Thompson Exerc. (1842) V. 92 Men were bolting in a hurry out of one religious tyranny, and it was not so wonderful they should bolt into another.
b. To dart forth, forward, out. (Often with the idea of start running, as in 3.)
1513Douglas æneis v. vi. 58 Furth bowtis with a bend Nisus. 1550Lyndesay Sqr. Meldrum 519 [He] bowtit fordward with ane bend. a1680Butler Rem. (1759) I. 92 Bolting out of Bushes in the dark. 1697Dryden Virg. Georg. Ded. (1721) I. 188 Some bolting out upon the Stage with vast applause. a1779Garrick Lying Valet i. Wks. 1798 I. 42 Out bolts her husband upon me with a fine taper crab in his hand. 1834Pringle Afr. Sk. viii. 259 With..a furious growl, forth he bolted from the bush.
c. Hawking. (See quot.)
1855Salvin & Brodrick Falconry Brit. Isles Gloss. 149 Bolt, to fly straight from the fist at game, as Goshawks and Sparrow-Hawks do.
d. Horticulture. To ‘run to seed’ prematurely.
1889in Cent. Dict. 1961Amateur Gardening 16 Sept. 12/2 In April or early May many of the plants ‘bolted’.
3. To dart off or away, make off with himself, take flight, escape; to rush suddenly off or away.
a. gen. of men or beasts. spec. of a rabbit, fox, etc.: to escape from its burrow or earth.
1575Turberv. Venerie 179 Put in a Ferret close musseled, and she will make the Conies bolte out againe into your pursenets. Ibid., It will make the Conies bolte out of the earth. 1611Beaum. & Fl. Philast. ii. ii, Here's one bolted; I'll hound at her. 1616Fletcher Hum. Lieut. iv. viii. 142 He will bolt now for certain. 1838Hawthorne Amer. Note-Bks. (1871) I. 156 The landlord of the tavern keeping his eye on a man whom he suspected of an intention to bolt. 1851[see bolt-hole 1]. 1865Dickens Mut. Fr. iii, At once bolting off in cabs. 1879F. T. Pollok Sport. Brit. Burmah II. 94 The rhinoceros bolted, and I got two shots as it crossed an open piece. 1900A. E. T. Watson Young Sportsman 234 A rabbit will bolt much sooner from a ferret that is free. Ibid., A rabbit will sometimes decline to bolt, and will be killed in the burrow.
b. spec. Of a horse: To break away from the rider's control; to make a violent dash out of his course.
1820Scott Monast. v, The mule..bounded, bolted, and would soon have thrown Father Philip over her head. 1877A. B. Edwards Up Nile xxii. 683 My donkey bolted about every five minutes. 1884E. L. Anderson Mod. Horsemanship i. viii. 44 Bolting is the quick, determined movement, usually off the course and often against some obstacle, that a horse makes to break away from restraint.
c. transf. To break away from a political party. (U.S. politics.) Cf. 7.
1821in E. S. Brown Missouri Compromises (1926) 43 Parker of Virginia, & some others, bolted. 1871St. Louis Democrat 3 Apr. (De Vere), Several of our contemporaries have announced..that Carl Schurz has bolted from the Republican party. 1884Boston (Mass.) Jrnl. 11 July (heading) Belief that Butler and Tammany will bolt.
** trans. To send off like a bolt.
4. To let off or discharge like a bolt; to shoot.
a1420Hoccleve De Reg. Princ. 2226 Disceyte..Bultethe out shame, and causethe grete smertnesse. 1581J. Bell Haddon's Answ. Osor. 439 A frivolous devise boulted out of the forgeshoppe of Lumbarde. 1618Barnevelt's Apol. C, Against your woundless brest he bolts his dart in vaine. 1648Markham Housew. Gard. iii. viii. (1668) 71 One of these seeds put into the eye..will..bolt itself forth without hurt to the eye. 1799Kirwan Geol. Ess. 169 Some may have been bolted off by the shock of an earthquake.
b. To drive out suddenly or forcibly; to expel. spec. To cause (a fox, rabbit, otter, etc.) to retreat from its hole or burrow. Also transf. and fig.
1610J. Guillim Heraldry iii. xiv. (1660) 166 You shall say Bowlt the Cony. 1612Beaum. & Fl. Cupid's Rev. Wks. iii. 415 This is one of her Ferrets that she bolts business out withall. 1622Fletcher Span. Curate v. ii. 48 All your devills wee will bolt. 1638J. Guillim Heraldry (ed. 3) iii. xiv. 176 You shall say Bowlt the Conie. 1805Wordsw. Prel. iii. 77 To have been bolted forth, Thrust out abruptly into Fortune's way. 1863Atkinson Stanton Grange 201 He intended to dig at his leisure until he bolted him [sc. an otter]. 1892Mrs. J. E. H. Gordon Eunice Anscombe 176 The terrier..was put into the hole to ‘bolt’ the otter. 1902Daily Chron. 13 Mar. 8/2 A brace of foxes were next bolted from an artificial earth. 1914R. Curle Life is a Dream 229 The dogs became wildly excited, pawing at the sand around the hole, bolting the crab, and then biting it. 1922E. Phillpotts Grey Room vii. 172 He'll bolt it [sc. the evil spirit] yet,..like a ferret bolts a rat.
c. to bolt upright: to cause to stand on end.
1794J. Wolcott (P. Pindar) Ep. Bruce Wks. II. 463 Tales..That bolt like hedge-hog-quills the hair upright.
5. To utter hastily, ejaculate, blurt out or forth.
1577Hanmer Anc. Eccl. Hist. (1619) 392 He bolted out such rash and vnadvised sayings. 1634Sir T. Herbert Trav. 123 Mahomet-Ally-Beg undesired, bolted out, that hee knew, etc. 1649G. Daniel Trinarch., Rich. II, 347 The Rudest Head will bolt a Paraphrase. 1692R. Lestrange Josephus' Antiq. xvi. vi. (1733) 431 The Princes..bolted out at a Venture, whatever came at their Tongue's End. 1821Coleridge Lett., Convers., &c. xv. I. 161 What we struggle with inwardly, we find..easiest to bolt out.
6. colloq. To swallow hastily and without chewing, swallow whole or with a single effort, gulp down.
1794J. Wolcott (P. Pindar) Path. Odes Wks. III. 401 Bolting his subjects with majestic gobble. 1818Scott Hrt. Midl. xxviii, He..bolted the alcohol, to use the learned phrase, and withdrew. 1835Marryat Pacha ix, Bolting them down to satisfy the cravings of..hunger. 1859Darwin Orig. Spec. xi. 362 Some hawks and owls bolt their prey whole. 1882Pall Mall G. 2 June 3/1 It would be much simpler for the House of Commons to bolt the bill whole.
*** trans. development of 3, 3 b, c.
7. To break away from (a political party or platform to which one has hitherto docilely adhered); = bolt from in sense 3. (U.S. politics.)
1813Portsmouth (N.H.) Oracle 20 Nov. 2/3 (Th.), Others,..without sufficient courage to do their duty, bolted the question. 1884Boston (Mass.) Jrnl. 11 July, It is believed that Butler and Tammany will bolt the ticket. 1884U.S. Newspaper, Several prominent Irishmen had bolted Cleveland. 1885Howells in Harper's Mag. July 262/1 The Democrat-Republican..bolted the nomination of a certain politician of its party for Congress.
II. To make fast or confine with a bolt.
†8. trans. To fetter, shackle; also fig. Obs.
1377Langl. P. Pl. B. vi. 138 If he be..bolted with yrnes. a1535More Wks. (1557) 1246 He bolteth their arms with a paulsy, that they cannot lift their hands to their heads. 1606Shakes. Ant. & Cl. v. ii. 6 That thing..Which shackles accedents, and bolts vp change.
9. trans. To secure (a door, etc.) with a bolt.
1580Baret Alv. B 906 The olde woman bolted the dore. 1611Bible 2 Sam. xiii. 17 Put now this woman out from mee, and bolt the doore after her. 1663Bp. Patrick Parab. Pilgr. 439 You haue obstinately bolted your heart against all these pious stories. 1720T. Boston Hum. Nat. (1794) 142 Labouring to enter into heaven by the door, which Adam's sin..bolted. 1865Trollope Belton Est. xiii. 147 The kitchen door, which he locked and bolted.
b. to bolt out, bolt in, bolt up: to exclude, shut in, shut up, by bolting a door, etc. Also fig.
c1620Z. Boyd Zion's Flowers (1855) 32 Yee grace barre out, and vanitie bolt in. 1691E. Taylor Behmen's Incarn. 330 The Divine Substantiality did sit bolted up therein. 1839Bailey Festus v, Where God is bolted out from every house.
c. absol. or intr.
1847Marryat Childr. N. Forest ii, We can bolt and bar.
d. intr. for pass.
1907Smart Set Feb. 77/1 The door bolts on the inside.
10. To fasten together or furnish with bolts.
1727–38Chambers Cycl. I. s.v. Keel, Into this are..the ground-timbers and hooks fastened, and bolted. 1780Burke Sp. Bristol Wks. III. 419 The..fabrick..is well cramped and bolted together in all its parts. 1787Nelson in Nicolas Disp. (1845) I. 207, I have ordered her [a ship] to be new bolted. 1824Ure Dict. Chem. 9 A disc of cast-iron well fitted and firmly bolted to it. 1875McLaren Serm. Ser. ii. iii. 55 A strong shaft of iron bolting together the two tottering walls of some old building.
III. 11. The vb.-stem in Comb. bolt-on a., of an optional addition to a car, machinery, etc.: able to be attached to the original parts by bolts; also fig., (able to be) added on to something when required; cf. add-on n. (and a.) and screw-on a. s.v. screw v. 25 a.
1963Times 8 Jan. 11/1 To test the effectiveness of a ‘*bolt-on’ conversion unit during everyday motoring, I had the latest Lockheed diaphragm servo system fitted to a Morris 1100. 1967Time 12 May 88/3 Decked out with bolt-on guns and rocket launchers, the shaking, rattling and rolling choppers are less than perfect for close-in fire support. 1974Daily Tel. 4 Sept. 12/1 Bolt-on aerofoils for your Ford or Austin could be the next motor accessory craze. 1986Pract. Gardening Mar. 12/1 We came up with the idea of a ‘bolt-on’ garden.
▪ VI. bolt, adv.
[The n. (bolt1) and stem of the vb. (bolt2), used to qualify adjectives and verbs.]
1. The n. is used similatively (cf. snow-white, sand-blind) = ‘as a bolt,’ in bolt up (obs.), bolt upright (see upright); whence bolt-ˈuprightness n.
c1386Chaucer Reeve's T. 346. c 1420 Pallad. on Husb. i. 967 Bere it bolt upright..and ley her downe upright. 1580North Plutarch (1676) 706 His hair stood bolt upright upon his head. 1635R. Brathwait Arcad. Pr. 158 Epimonos all this while sat bolt-upright in a chaire. 1651Cleveland Poems 12 On his knees..With hands bolt up to Heaven. 1824W. Irving T. Trav. I. 87, I suddenly sprang bolt upright in my chair, and awoke.
1726Amherst Terræ Fil. xxix. 155 That bolt uprightness of mien. 1850Mrs. Stowe Uncle Tom's C. xv. 152 Stiffness and squareness, and bolt-uprightness.
2. The vb. stem is used advb. to express a sudden rapid motion; = ‘bolting, with one bolt, straight’.
a1845Hood Not a single Man vi, Bolt up the stairs they ran. 1877Blackie Wise Men 121 A pitchy pillar of thick-volumed smoke Shot bolt to heaven. |