unbolt
Americanverb (used with object)
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to open (a door, window, etc.) by or as if by removing a bolt; unlock; unfasten.
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to release, as by the removal of threaded bolts.
He unscrewed the nuts and unbolted the inspection cover.
verb (used without object)
verb
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to unfasten a bolt of (a door)
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to undo (the nut) on a bolt
Other Word Forms
Inflected Forms
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
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unboltsimple
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unboltssimple
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have unboltedperfect
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has unboltedperfect
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am unboltingprogressive
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are unboltingprogressive
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is unboltingprogressive
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have been unboltingperfect progressive
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has been unboltingperfect progressive
Past
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unboltedsimple
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had unboltedperfect
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was unboltingprogressive
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were unboltingprogressive
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had been unboltingperfect progressive
Future
Etymology
Origin of unbolt
Explanation
When you unbolt something, you unfasten its lock. Unbolt the gate so I can put my bike away! When you open the particular type of lock called a bolt, you unbolt it. Turn a key or latch in your front door to slide the bolt closed, and you bolt the door. Slide it open, and you unbolt it. This verb comes from the prefix un- ("reversal") and bolt, a word that's been used to mean "part of a lock which springs out" since around 1400.
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
See Examples For:
Wiseman then switched to a ratchet wrench to unbolt the failed device, known as a sequential shunt unit, or SSU.
From Reuters ● Oct. 15, 2014
“What if I found a way to unbolt the metal screens and crawl through the fan ducts into your cell, would you let me do it?”
From Salon ● Mar. 19, 2014
Shropshire Fire and Rescue Service could not cut the spike as it was too thick, opting instead to unbolt it.
From BBC ● Mar. 4, 2014
Grissom, White and Chaffee tried — briefly — to unbolt the hatch, but they were quickly overcome.
From Time ● Jan. 28, 2011
She dared not try to unbolt the great front door but instead tiptoed cautiously through the cold company room into the back chamber and let herself out the shed door into the garden.
From "The Witch of Blackbird Pond" by Elizabeth George Speare
The monk woman unbolts a door, barely big enough for a medium-sized Labrador, and I stoop through.
From BBC ● Oct. 2, 2017
Some love seats and sofas are built with a frame system that unbolts easily once the dust cover on the bottom is removed, while others are a lot trickier to take apart.
From Washington Post ● Feb. 26, 2016
At the door he stops, collects himself, and quietly unbolts the door.
From "Middlesex: A Novel" by Jeffrey Eugenides
No. 6 unbolts trail-wheel, and ships handspike in its socket of trail.
From Ordnance Instructions for the United States Navy. 1866. Fourth edition. by United States. Navy Dept. Bureau of Ordnance
The devil rarely bolts and unbolts his door for his own guests.
From The Continental Monthly, Vol. 1, No. 2, February, 1862 Devoted To Literature And National Policy by Various
Arrays of Russian sensors to sniff, scour and study the planet’s environment may have to be unbolted and replaced and a non-Russian launcher rocket found if the suspension of their collaboration becomes a lasting rupture.
From Seattle Times ● Mar. 27, 2022
For example, a converted 1991 Porsche can be unbolted and retuned back to its original state.
From The Verge ● Nov. 22, 2021
The impact unbolted a large crystal chandelier above the ambassador’s desk that missed his head by inches.
From The New Yorker ● May 13, 2016
The crew removed the pay phone and unbolted the booth from the sidewalk, then lifted a replacement booth, slightly larger and sleeker in design, from a truck.
From New York Times ● Feb. 10, 2016
No one was stirring down-stairs, so I unbolted the door and went out.
From "The Sun Also Rises" by Ernest Hemingway
The U.S. better start unbolting the trophy from the New York Yacht Club.
From Time Magazine Archive
There was a good deal of unchaining and unbolting, and the door was slowly opened.
From The Pickwick Papers by Dickens, Charles
He knocked, however, and rang boldly; and after a brief delay, and considerable noise of unbolting and unbarring, was admitted.
From Sir Brook Fossbrooke, Volume I. by Lever, Charles James
One precaution the visitors had taken, that of unbolting the back door, so that retreat might not be barred in case they were discovered.
From A Daughter of the Sioux A Tale of the Indian frontier by Deming, Edwin Willard
Susan received them with a great unbolting and unlocking of the door.
From Love of Brothers by Tynan, Katharine
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
