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• bolt
  bolt

  noun

  a movable bar or rod that when slid into a socket fastens a door, gate, etc.
• Bolt
  Bolt

  noun

  Robert ( Oxton ). 1924–95, British playwright. His plays include A Man for All Seasons (1960) and he also wrote a number of screenplays

bolt

¹ American  

[bohlt] / boʊlt /

noun

• bolts
  plural

1. a movable bar or rod that when slid into a socket fastens a door, gate, etc.

2. the part of a lock that is shot from and drawn back into the case, as by the action of the key.

3. any of several types of strong fastening rods, pins, or screws, usually threaded to receive a nut.

4. a sudden dash, run, flight, or escape.

5. a sudden desertion from a meeting, political party, social movement, etc.

6. a length of woven goods, especially as it comes on a roll from the loom.

7. a roll of wallpaper.

8. Bookbinding. the three edges of a folded sheet that must be cut so that the leaves can be opened.

9. a rod, bar, or plate that closes the breech of a breechloading rifle, especially a sliding rod or bar that shoves a cartridge into the firing chamber as it closes the breech.

10. a jet of water, molten glass, etc.

11. an arrow, especially a short, heavy one for a crossbow.

12. a shaft of lightning; thunderbolt.

13. a length of timber to be cut into smaller pieces.

14. a slice from a log, as a short, round piece of wood used for a chopping block.

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verb (used with object)

1. to fasten with or as with a bolt.

2. to discontinue support of or participation in; break with.

   to bolt a political party.

3. to shoot or discharge (a missile), as from a crossbow or catapult.

4. to utter hastily; say impulsively; blurt out.

5. to swallow (one's food or drink) hurriedly.

   She bolted her breakfast and ran to school.

6. to make (cloth, wallpaper, etc.) into bolts.

7. Fox Hunting. (of hounds) to force (a fox) into the open.

verb (used without object)

1. to make a sudden, swift dash, run, flight, or escape; spring away suddenly.

   The rabbit bolted into its burrow.

   Synonyms:

   bound, flee, scoot, speed, fly, run, rush, dash

2. to break away, as from one's political party.

3. to eat hurriedly or without chewing.

4. Horticulture. to produce flowers or seeds prematurely.

adverb

1. Archaic. with sudden meeting or collision; suddenly.

idioms

1. bolt upright, stiffly upright; rigidly straight.

   The explosive sound caused him to sit bolt upright in his chair.

2. bolt from the blue, a sudden and entirely unforeseen event: Also bolt out of the blue.

   His decision to leave college was a bolt from the blue for his parents.

3. shoot one's bolt, to make an exhaustive effort or expenditure.

   The lawyer shot his bolt the first day of the trial and had little to say thereafter.

bolt ² American  

[bohlt] / boʊlt /

verb (used with object)

1. to sift through a cloth or sieve.

2. to examine or search into, as if by sifting.

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bolt ¹ British  

/ bəʊlt /

noun

1. a bar that can be slid into a socket to lock a door, gate, etc

2. a bar or rod that forms part of a locking mechanism and is moved by a key or a knob

3. a metal rod or pin that has a head at one end and a screw thread at the other to take a nut

4. a sliding bar in a breech-loading firearm that ejects the empty cartridge, replaces it with a new one, and closes the breech

5. a flash of lightning

6. a sudden start or movement, esp in order to escape

   they made a bolt for the door

7. a sudden desertion, esp from a political party

8. a roll of something, such as cloth, wallpaper, etc

9. an arrow, esp for a crossbow

10. printing a folded edge on a sheet of paper that is removed when cutting to size

11. mechanical engineering short for expansion bolt

12. a sudden, unexpected, and usually unwelcome event

13. to exhaust one's effort

    the runner had shot his bolt

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verb

1. (tr) to secure or lock with or as with a bolt or bolts

   bolt your doors

2. (tr) to eat hurriedly

   don't bolt your food

3. (intr; usually foll by from or out) to move or jump suddenly

   he bolted from the chair

4. (intr) (esp of a horse) to start hurriedly and run away without warning

5. (tr) to roll or make (cloth, wallpaper, etc) into bolts

6. to desert (a political party, etc)

7. (intr) (of cultivated plants) to produce flowers and seeds prematurely

8. (tr) to cause (a wild animal) to leave its lair; start

   terriers were used for bolting rats

adverb

1. stiffly, firmly, or rigidly (archaic except in the phrase bolt upright )

Bolt ² British  

/ bəʊlt /

noun

1. Robert ( Oxton ). 1924–95, British playwright. His plays include A Man for All Seasons (1960) and he also wrote a number of screenplays

2. Usain (juːˈseɪn). born 1986, Jamaican athlete: winner of the 100 metres and the 200 metres in the 2008 Olympic Games, setting world records at both distances

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bolt ³ British  

/ bəʊlt /

verb

1. to pass (flour, a powder, etc) through a sieve

2. to examine and separate

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bolt More Idioms  

More idioms and phrases containing bolt

• nuts and bolts
• shoot one's bolt

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Other Word Forms

Derived Forms

• bolter
  noun
• boltless
  adjective
• boltlike
  adjective

Inflected Forms

Nouns

• bolts
  plural

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Etymology

Origin of bolt¹

First recorded before 1000; Middle English noun bolt, bold, bote “(crossbow) bolt, (lightning) bolt, (door) bolt, (cloth) bolt,” Old English bolt “arrow, (crossbow) bolt, catapult”; cognate with Dutch bout, German Bolz

Origin of bolt²

First recorded in 1150–1200; Middle English bulten, bolten, bouten, from Old French bul(e)ter, variant of unrecorded buteler, from Germanic; compare Middle High German biuteln “to sift,” derivative of biutel, Old High German būtil “bag,” whence German Beutel

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Explanation

We love words that sound like what they mean, and bolt is no exception. It's a quick, sharp word that either means to move quickly or refers to a stroke of lightning, as in "lightning bolt." The god Zeus was fond of tossing bolts of lightning down upon mortals who angered him. If you were one of those mortals, you'd have been smart to bolt inside as soon as the rain began. To bolt is to run as quickly as you can. Racehorses are often described as bolting out of the gate. Other uses of bolt include the lock in your door, the act of locking that lock, and what a dog does when it gulps down his food.

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

bolt Bolt bolts

A minute of research, or just an honest accounting that nearly all his early rockabilly hits were cover songs, puts the lie to the idea that Elvis was a drawling bolt from the blue.

From Salon ● Oct. 30, 2026

It turns out his death was much more complicated than a random bolt of lightning, and Sister, then a teenager, was involved in ways she has never revealed.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 16, 2026

Fireworks are also traumatizing for pets, particularly dogs, which tremble and even bolt from their homes in fear.

From Barron's ● Jul. 2, 2026

The backstory of the works by the composers who perished is obviously compelling, but the lightning bolt that struck Conlon first was the music.

From Los Angeles Times ● Jun. 18, 2026

The muzzle flash lighted the box for a moment like a miniature lightning bolt.

From "Chasing Lincoln's Killer" by James L. Swanson

Effectively, the Bolt is a smartphone on wheels.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 23, 2026

Humanoids sprinted faster than Usain Bolt and jumped 11 feet in the air from a standing position.

From Slate ● Sep. 27, 2026

Falmouth Coastguard's Tom Bolt said a diver had come across the device and alerted the coastguard.

From BBC ● Sep. 22, 2026

Lucid stock jumped after the EV maker announced an autonomous-driving partnership with Bolt and its CEO said work with restructuring consultant AlixPartners had concluded.

From Barron's ● Sep. 17, 2026

I looked in the world records book and it says some dude named Usain Bolt is the fastest, but I had never heard of him.

From "Ghost" by Jason Reynolds

Goldie is interested in getting to the nuts and bolts right off the bat, with bullet points of your basic income and spending parameters, such as:

From MarketWatch ● Oct. 2, 2026

“They didn’t even need to break into the strongroom,” Al-Abideen said bitterly, looking at a heavy metal door secured with multiple bolts.

From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 8, 2026

Wartsila also recommended tightening bolts and locking them in place with superglue to improve reliability, particularly involving air leakages, failed silencers and solenoid coils becoming loose.

From BBC ● Sep. 8, 2026

An island paradise has become a logistics hub for shipping microchips, optical instruments and aerospace rivets and bolts to Russia.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 3, 2026

“The plane shook violently,” he later said, “rattling and clanking as if someone had thrown a bucket of nuts and bolts into the engine.”

From "Most Dangerous: Daniel Ellsberg and the Secret History of the Vietnam War" by Steve Sheinkin

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Related Words

• bound
• dart
• dash
• drop out
• dump
• escape
• flee
• jump
• leap
• rush
• scamper
• scoot
• skip
• sprint
• take off

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