bolt

Etymology 1

From Middle English bolt, from Old English bolt, from Proto-West Germanic *bolt, from Proto-Germanic *bultaz, perhaps from Proto-Indo-European *bʰeld- (“to knock, strike”). Compare Lithuanian beldu (“I knock”), baldas (“pole for striking”). Akin to Dutch and West Frisian bout, German Bolz or Bolzen, Danish bolt, Swedish bult, Icelandic bolti.

noun

1. A (usually) metal fastener consisting of a cylindrical body that is threaded, with a larger head on one end. It can be inserted into an unthreaded hole up to the head, with a nut then threaded on the other end; a heavy machine screw.
2. A sliding pin or bar in a lock or latch mechanism.
3. A bar of wood or metal dropped in horizontal hooks on a door and adjoining wall or between the two sides of a double door, to prevent the door(s) from being forced open.
4. (military, mechanical engineering) A sliding mechanism to chamber and unchamber a cartridge in a firearm.
5. A small personal-armour-piercing missile for short-range use, or (in common usage though deprecated by experts) a short arrow, intended to be shot from a crossbow or a catapult.
6. A lightning spark, i.e., a lightning bolt.
7. A sudden event, action or emotion.
   The problem's solution struck him like a bolt from the blue.
   With a bolt of fright he remembered that there was no bathroom in the Hobhouse Room. He leapt along the corridor in a panic, stopping by the long-case clock at the end where he flattened himself against the wall. 1994, Stephen Fry, chapter 2, in The Hippopotamus
8. A large roll of fabric or similar material, as a bolt of cloth.
   Mr. Cole, Basket-maker...has lost near 300 boults of rods 24 March 1774, Stamford Mercury
   1. (nautical) The standard linear measurement of canvas for use at sea: 39 yards.
9. A sudden spring or start; a sudden leap aside.
   The horse made a bolt.
10. A sudden flight, as to escape creditors.
    This gentleman was so hopelessly involved that he contemplated a bolt to America — or anywhere. 1887, Charles Reade, Compton Reade, Charles Reade, Dramatist, Novelist, Journalist: A Memoir
11. (US, politics) A refusal to support a nomination made by the party with which one has been connected; a breaking away from one's party.
12. An iron to fasten the legs of a prisoner; a shackle; a fetter.
13. A burst of speed or efficiency.
    In the event they lacked a proper midfield bolt, with Toni Kroos and Sami Khedira huffing around in pursuit of the whizzing green machine. The centre-backs looked flustered, left to deal with three on two as Mexico broke. Löw’s 4-2-3-1 seemed antiquated and creaky, with the old World Cup shark Thomas Müller flat-footed in a wide position. 17 June 2018, Barney Ronay, “Mexico’s Hirving Lozano stuns world champions Germany for brilliant win”, in Katharine Viner, editor, The Guardian, London: Guardian News & Media, →ISSN, →OCLC, archived from the original on 2019-08-05
14. A stalk or scape (of garlic, onion, etc).
    All kinds of vegetables may be used as a topping, but the best are strongly flavoured ones without too much moisture, such as celery, garlic bolts, chives, scallions, or various beans (long beans, green beans etc.) ... 2013, Wong Yoon Wah, Durians Are Not the Only Fruit: Notes from the Tropics, Epigram Books
    She ordered Cat's Ear Noodles heaped with garlic bolts and tomatoes, the broth thick with cumin, laced with black vinegar. The girl caught her accent, the sibilant sing-song of the south, and smiled, tilting her head questioningly. 2017, Adam Brookes, The Spy's Daughter, Redhook

verb

1. To connect or assemble pieces using a bolt.
   Bolt the vice to the bench.
2. To secure a door by locking or barring it.
   Bolt the door.
3. (intransitive) To flee, to depart, to accelerate suddenly.
   Seeing the snake, the horse bolted.
   The actor forgot his line and bolted from the stage.
4. (transitive) To cause to start or spring forth; to dislodge (an animal being hunted).
   to bolt a rabbit
5. To strike or fall suddenly like a bolt.
6. (intransitive) To escape.
7. (intransitive, botany, of lettuce, spinach, garlic, onion, etc) To produce flower stalks and flowers or seeds quickly or prematurely; to form a bolt (stalk or scape); to go to seed.
   Lettuce and spinach will bolt as the weather warms up.
   When an onion bolts and forms a flower stalk, the stem grows right up through the neck, forming a tough, fibrous tube that pierces the center of the bulb. The plant channels all its energy into this flower stalk, so no more fleshy […] 1982, Dorothy Hinshaw Patent, Diane E. Bilderback, Garden Secrets: A Guide to Understanding how Your Garden Grows and how You Can Help it Grow Even Better
   To be honest, this hasn't been my Garden of Eden year. […] The lettuce turned bitter and bolted. The Green Comet broccoli was good, but my coveted Romanescos never headed up. 1995, Anne Raver, “Gandhi Gardening”, in Deep in the Green: An Exploration of Country Pleasures, New York, N.Y.: Alfred A. Knopf
   Hardneck garlic bolts, which means it produces a single flower stalk, also known as a scape. It is considered to be far tastier and “gourmet.” You can find hardneck garlic mainly at farmers' markets […] 2011, Trina Clickner, A Miscellany of Garlic: From Paying Off Pyramids and Scaring Away Tigers to Inspiring Courage and Curing Hiccups, the Unusual Power Behind the World's Most Humble Vegetable, Simon and Schuster
8. To swallow food without chewing it.
9. To drink one's drink very quickly; to down a drink.
   Come on, everyone, bolt your drinks; I want to go to the next pub!
10. (US, politics) To refuse to support a nomination made by a party or caucus with which one has been connected; to break away from a party.
11. To utter precipitately; to blurt or throw out.

adv

1. Suddenly; straight; unbendingly.
   The soldiers stood bolt upright for inspection.

Etymology 2

From Middle English bulten, from Anglo-Norman buleter, Old French bulter (modern French bluter), from a Germanic source originally meaning "bag, pouch" cognate with Middle High German biuteln (“to sift”), from Proto-Germanic *buzdô (“beetle, grub, swelling”), from Proto-Indo-European *bʰūs- (“to move quickly”). Cognate with Dutch buidel.

verb

1. To sift, especially through a cloth.
2. To sift the bran and germ from wheat flour.
   Graham flour is unbolted flour; in contrast, some other flours have been bolted.
3. To separate, assort, refine, or purify by other means.
4. (law) To discuss or argue privately, and for practice, as cases at law.
   […]the old habits of mooting or bolting caſes (i.e. of public disputations), might make the ſtudent more ſubtle and acute 1781, “The History and Antiquities of the Four Inns of Court”, in The Monthly Review

noun

1. A sieve, especially a long fine sieve used in milling for bolting flour and meal; a bolter.
   The combination, in a flour bolt, of a reel head having a throat near its outer edge for the passage of the tailings and a series of revolving adjustable beaters, substantially as set forth. 1885, Canada. Patent Office, The Canadian Patent Office Record and Register of Copyrights and Trade Marks, page 279
   We have a number of these reels in different mills that are bolting the break flour direct from the scalping reels and scalped through No. 8 cloth. […] Now, gentlemen, they require a much less number to do a given amount of work than any other known machine or bolt, and require less space and power. 1886, The Mechanical News, page 120
   As the material is agitated by the motion of the bolt, the flour falls through, while the smaller particles of bran are taken up by the current of air and carried off. 1896, United States. Patent Office, Decisions of the Commissioner of Patents and of the United States Courts in Patent and Trade-mark and Copyright Cases., page 493