unbolt
Americanverb (used with object)
-
to open (a door, window, etc.) by or as if by removing a bolt; unlock; unfasten.
-
to release, as by the removal of threaded bolts.
He unscrewed the nuts and unbolted the inspection cover.
verb (used without object)
verb
-
to unfasten a bolt of (a door)
-
to undo (the nut) on a bolt
Other Word Forms
Inflected Forms
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
-
unboltsimple
-
unboltssimple
-
have unboltedperfect
-
has unboltedperfect
-
am unboltingprogressive
-
are unboltingprogressive
-
is unboltingprogressive
-
have been unboltingperfect progressive
-
has been unboltingperfect progressive
Past
-
unboltedsimple
-
had unboltedperfect
-
was unboltingprogressive
-
were unboltingprogressive
-
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
When they reached the very bottom and the wall rose frowning above them, Lasaraleen was shaking so that she could not unbolt the gate.
From "The Horse and His Boy" by C.S. Lewis
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
Enter ARETHUSA, L., with candle; she lights another; and passes to door, R., which she unbolts.
From Plays of William E. Henley and R.L. Stevenson by Henley, William Ernest
Yet on the third night she actually unbolts it herself and leaving it unbolted puts out her light and goes to bed.
From The Broken Road by Mason, A. E. W. (Alfred Edward Woodley)
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
Even the America’s Cup was finally unbolted from its display case at the New York Yacht Club after 132 years.
From The Guardian ● May 4, 2018
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 guard unbolted Matthias’ shackles, and as soon as the chains dropped into the sand, he leapt onto the ladder with the announcer to be lifted to safety.
From "Six of Crows" by Leigh Bardugo
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
With a grin, Kirby took Naida’s hand and led her down the steps, unbolting each bronze gate but the last.
From Astounding Stories of Super-Science, December 1930 by Various
Yes, I could hear the heavy step of the older woman down in the hall unlocking, unbolting, unchaining the door ... that the housemaid and I might lose no time when she was ready.
From My Little Sister by Robins, Elizabeth
Thence unbolting a door, we were enabled to reach the roof of the chancel; this was composed of lead, and was quite flat, with a high stone coping all round it.
From The Young Dragoon Every Day Life of a Soldier by Drayson, A.W.
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.
