Dictionary.com
QUIZ
CAN YOU ANSWER THESE COMMON GRAMMAR DEBATES?
There are grammar debates that never die; and the ones highlighted in the questions in this quiz are sure to rile everyone up once again. Do you know how to answer the questions that cause some of the greatest grammar debates?
Question 1 of 7
Which sentence is correct?

Idioms about bolt

Origin of bolt

1
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

OTHER WORDS FROM bolt

bolter, nounboltless, adjectiveboltlike, adjective

Other definitions for bolt (2 of 2)

bolt2
[ bohlt ]
/ boʊlt /

verb (used with object)
to sift through a cloth or sieve.
to examine or search into, as if by sifting.

Origin of bolt

2
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

OTHER WORDS FROM bolt

bolter, noun
Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023

How to use bolt in a sentence

British Dictionary definitions for bolt (1 of 3)

bolt1
/ (bəʊlt) /

noun
verb
adverb
stiffly, firmly, or rigidly (archaic except in the phrase bolt upright)

Word Origin for bolt

Old English bolt arrow; related to Old High German bolz bolt for a crossbow

British Dictionary definitions for bolt (2 of 3)

bolt2

boult

/ (bəʊlt) /

verb (tr)
to pass (flour, a powder, etc) through a sieve
to examine and separate

Derived forms of bolt

bolter or boulter, noun

Word Origin for bolt

C13: from Old French bulter, probably of Germanic origin; compare Old High German būtil bag

British Dictionary definitions for bolt (3 of 3)

Bolt
/ (bəʊlt) /

noun
Robert (Oxton). 1924–95, British playwright. His plays include A Man for All Seasons (1960) and he also wrote a number of screenplays
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
Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

Other Idioms and Phrases with bolt

bolt

The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary Copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
FEEDBACK