bolster 
ed part; a compress. (?) A cushioned or padded part of a 
saddle. ((/) \ailt. ,jit., pieces of soft w 1 covered with 
tend CUVas, placed under the eyes of the rigging t'i pre- 
vent chafing from the sharp edge of th< es. () 
A part of a bridge Intervening lietween the truss and the 
masonry. (/) In ,-ntifi-ii, the part of such Instruments and 
tools as knives, chisels, etc.. which adjoins the end of the 
handle ; alv, a met al lie plat'- on the end of a pocket-knife 
handle. (//) In </., block of wood on the carriage of 
a liege-gun, upon which the breech of the gun rests when 
It is moved, (li) liinn-li.. s&muiuibaliister, 2. (i) In I/H/X/V, 
the railed ridge which holds the tuning-pins of a piano. 
0) A cap-piece or sliorl timber placed al Ibe top of a post 
as a bearing fora string-piece, (t) A perforated l> n 
block upon which sheet -metal is placed to be punched. 
(0 A si 4 through which a spindle passes, (m) 
one of the loose 
w leu blocks 
against which the 
ends of the pole of 
the saw rest, (n) 
A bar placed trans- 
versely over the 
axle of a wagon or 
in the middle of a 
car-truck to sup- 
(11.-, 
Wagon-bolster. 
a, axle-bar ; I 1 , bolster. 
port the body, (o) One of the transverse pieces of an arch- 
centering, extending between the ribs and sustaining the 
voussoira during construction. Bob at the bolster. 
Same as auhiun-da-nce. Compound bolster, in car- 
buildiiui, a lx>lster formed of timbers stiffened by vertical 
Iron plates. 
bolster (bol'ster), v. t. [< bolster, n.~\ 1. To 
support with a bolster. 
Suppose I bolster him up In bed. 
Anil fix the crown again on his brow? 
K. B. Ni<iit<lnl, The King Is Cold. 
2. To prop ; support ; uphold ; maintain : gen- 
erally implying support of a weak, falling, or 
unworthy cause or object, or support based on 
insufficient grounds: now usually with up: as, 
to bolster up his pretensions with lies. 
Lord, what bearing, what bolsteriiiij of naughty mat- 
ters is this In a Christian realm 1 
Latimer, 5th Serm. bef. Edw. VI., 1549. 
Persuasions used to further the truth, not to boltter 
error. Hooker, Eccles. Pol., 111. $ 4. 
Still farther to appropriate and confirm the exciting 
narrative of this forgery, he had artfully bolstered It up 
by an accompanying anecdote. 
/. D' Israeli, Amen, of Lit., II. 416. 
3. To furnish with a bolster in dress; pad; 
stuff out with padding. 
Three pair of stays bolstered below the left shoulder. 
Taller, No. 245. 
bolsterer (bol'ster-er), n. One who bolsters; 
a supporter. 
bolstering (bol'ster-ing), n. [Verbal n. of bol- 
ster, t>.] A prop or support ; padding. 
bolster-plate (bol'ster-plat), n. An irou plate 
placed on the under side of the bolster of a 
wagon, to serve as a wearing surface. 
bolster-spring (bol'ster-spring), n. A. spring 
placed on the beam of a car-truck, to support 
the bolster and the body of the car. 
bolster-work (bol'ster-werk), n. Architec- 
tural features, or courses of masonry, which 
are curved or bowed outward like the sides of 
a cushion. 
bolt 1 (bolt), n. [< ME. bolt (in most of the 
mod. senses), < AS. bolt (only in the first sense : 
twice in glosses, " catapultns, speru, boltas," 
to which is due, perhaps, the erroneous sug- 
gestion that AS. bolt is a reduced form of L. 
catapulto, catapult) = MD. bolt, an arrow, later 
bout, D. bout, a pin, = MLG. bolte, bolten, LG. 
bolte, an arrow, pin, round stick, fetter, roll of 
linen, = OHG. MHG. bolz, G. boh, bolzen, an ar- 
row, a pin, = Icel. bolti, a pin, a roll of linen 
(Haldorseii), = Dan. bolt, a pin, band (the 
Scand. forms prob. from E. orLG.); appar. an 
orig. Teut. word with the primary meaning of 
' arrow ' or ' missile.'] 1 . An arrow ; especially, 
in archer i/, the arrow of a crossbow, which was 
short and thick as compared with a shaft. 
A fool's bolt la soon shot. Shnk., Hen. V., 111. 7. 
The infidel has shot his i*Ji* away, 
Till, his exhausted <[iiiver yielding none, 
He gleans the blunted ihutl that have recoil'd, 
And aims them at the shield of truth again. 
Cowjier, Task, vi. 878. 
2. A thunderbolt; a stream of lightning: so 
named from its apparently darting like a bolt. 
The butts that spare the mountain side 
His cloud-rapt eminence divide. 
And spread the ruin round. 
Cmi'/HT, tr. of Horace, Odes, H. 10. 
Harmless as summer lightning plays 
From a low, hidden cloud hy ni^ht, 
A light to set the hills ablaze, 
But not a bolt to smite. \Vliittier, KenozaLake. 
3. Aii elongated bullet for a rifled cannon. 
4. A cylindrical jet, as of water or molten 
i. Double-headed bolt. a. Eye-bolt. 3. Lewis bolt, a, head ; i, 
shank ; c, washer ; tt, nut ; e. e, pieces secured by the nut to the object 
// f, collar; t, barbed ihank surrounded by lead, Jr. 
glass. 5. A metallic pin or rod, used to 
hold objects together. It generally has screw- 
threads cut at one end, and 
sometimes at both, to receive 
a nut. 6. A movable bar 
for fastening a door, gate, 
a, carriage-bolt ; ft, tire- 
bolt ; c, wagon - skein 
bolt 
bolt 
bolt 1 (bdlt), v. [= Sc. boult, bout, bowt; < ME. bol~ 
nn, Inillin (in tlic latter form varying in one in- 
stance with pulten, mod. E. pelt 1 .a. v.), spring, 
start, also fetter, shackle ( = MHO. bulzen, go 
off like an arrow) ; the other senses are modern, 
all being derived from bolt 1 , n., in its two main 
senses of 'missile ' and ' pin for fastening ' : see' 
bolti, .] I. intrann. 1. To go off like a bolt or 
arrow ; shoot forth suddenly ; spring out with 
speed and suddenness : commonly followed by 
out : as, to bolt out of the house. 
Angry Cupid, totting from her eye*, 
Hath shot himself Into me like a flame. 
B. Jotuon, Volpone, 11. i 
This Puck seems but a dreaming dolt, . . . 
And oft out of a bush doth h,n. 
Drayttm, Nymphldla. 
2. To spring aside or away suddenly; start and 
run off; make a bolt. 
Stage-coaches were upsetting in all directions, horses 
were bolting, boats were overturning, and boilers were 
bursting. Kckrnt. 
The gun, absolutely the most useless weapon among us, 
could do nothing, even if the gunners did not bolt at the 
first sight of the enemy. O'Donopan, Herv, x. 
3. In politics, to withdraw from a nominating 
convention as a means of showing disapproval 
of its acts; hence, to cease to act in full accord 
with one's party ; refuse to support a measure 
or candidate adopted by a majority of one's col- 
leagues or party associates. [U. S. ] 
Mr. Raymond agreed, . . . after some hesitation, but 
with the understanding that, if it |the Philadelphia Con- 
- " "-""] fell under the control of the" ' 
makes a fastening by being shot into a socket 
or keeper. 7. An iron to fasten the legs of a 
prisoner; a shackle. 
Away with him to prison, lay h,l/* enough upon him. 
SAoi.TM. for M., v. 1. 
8. In firearms : (a) In a needle-gun, the slid- 
ing piece that thrusts the cartridge forward 
into the chamber and carries the firing-pin, it 
has a motion of rotation about its longer axis for the 
purpose of locking the breech-mechanism before tiring. 
(6) In a snap-gun, the part that holds the barrel 
to the breech-mechanism. 0. A roll or defi- 
nite length of silk, canvas, tape, or other tex- 
tile fabric, and also of wall-paper, as it comes 
from the maker ready for sale or use. 
Face. Where be the French petticoats, 
And girdles and hangers ? 
Sub. Here, in the trunk, 
And the bolti of lawn. B. Jonton, Alchemist, v. 2. 
10. A bundle, (o) Of straw, a quantity loosely 
tiedup. Also bolting or bolton. (b) Of osier rods, 
a quantity bound up for market, 3 feet around 
the lower band, (c) Of reeds, one of 3 feet in cir- 
cumference. [Eng.] 1 1 . The closed ends of 
leaves of an uncut Dook which present a double 
or quadruple fold. 12. The comb of a bobbin- 
net machine on which the carriages move. 
13. In woodworking : (a) A mass of wood 
from which anything may be cut or formed. 
(b) Boards held together, after being sawed 
from the log, by an uncut end or stub-shot. 
14f. A name for certain plants, as the globe- 
flower and marsh-marigold. 15. [In this and 
the next sense from the verb.] The act of 
running off suddenly ; a sudden spring or start : 
as, the norse made a bolt. 
The Egyptian soldiers, as usual, made an immediate 
bolt, throwing away their arms and even their clothes. 
E. Sartorius, In the Soudan, p. 65. 
16. In politics, the act of withdrawing from a 
nominating convention as a manifestation of 
disapproval of its acts ; hence, refusal to sup- 
port a candidate or the ticket presented by 
or in the name of the party to which one has 
hitherto been attached ; a partial or temporary 
desertion of one's party. [U.S.] 17. The act 
of bolting food Barbed bolt, a bolt with points pro- 
jecting outward, which bear against or enter into the sur- 
rounding material, and thus prevent iU withdrawal. 
Bolt and shutter. In cloclc-malrinij, an adjustment of a 
spiral spring in a turret clock, such that while the clock 
is winding there may be another spring in action to pre- 
vent a stoppage of the works. Bolt and tun. In her., a 
tern i applied to a bird-bolt in pale piercing through a tun. 
Bringing -to bolt, a bolt with an eye at one end and a 
screw-thread and nut at the other, used in drawing parts 
toward each other. Chain-plate bolt. Same as 
bolt. Copper bolt. See nipper bit. tinder <!. Coun- 
4f. To fall suddenly, like a thunderbolt. 
As an eagle 
His cloudless thunder bolted on their heads. 
Milton, S. A., 1. 1696. 
5. To run to seed prematurely, as early-sown 
root-crops (turnips, etc.), without the usual 
thickening of the root, or after it. 
II. trans. 1. To send off like a bolt or ar- 
row; shoot ; discharge. 2. To start or spring 
(game) ; cause to bolt up or out, as hares, rab- 
bits, and the like. 
Jack Ferret, welcome. . . 
What canst thou i,it us now? a coney or two 
B. Jonton, New Inn, iii. 1. 
8. To expel; drive out suddenly. 
To have been h,n,i/ forth, 
Thrust out abruptly into Fortune's way, 
Among the conflicts of substantial life. 
Wordsworth, Prelude, ill. 77. 
4. To blurt out; ejaculate or utter hastily. 
5. To swallow hurriedly or without chewing: 
as, to Imlt one's food. 
These treacherous pelleU are thrown to the bear, who 
bolti them whole. N. A. Rev., CXX. 39. 
6. [After I., 3.] In politics, to break away from 
and refuse to support (the candidate, the ticket, 
or the platform presented by or in the name of 
the party to which one has hitherto adhered) ; 
leave or abandon: as, to Imlt the presidential 
candidate. 
A man does not ''/' his party, but the candidate or can- 
didates his party has put up. Sometimes, though less 
properly, he is said to Ml the platform of principles It 
has enunciated. The essential point is, that the bolter 
does not necessarily, in fact does not usually, abandon 
the political organization with which he is connected. 
He not infrequently votes for some men upon its ticket, 
and at the same time hilt* others by "scratching" their 
names. A'. }'. Evening Pott, Aug. 20, 1887. 
7. To fasten or secure with a bolt or an iron pin, 
as a door, a plank, fetters, or anything else. 
8. To fasten as with bolts ; shackle ; restrain. 
It U great 
To do that thing that ends all other deeds ; 
Which shackles accidents, and bollt up change. 
Shak., A. andC., v. 2. 
That I could reach the axle, where the pins are 
Which hilt this frame ; that I might pull them out 
B. Joiuon, Catiline, 111 1. 
To bolt a fox, in fox-huntiny, when a fox has run to 
earth, to put a terrier into the hole, and, when he la 
heard barking, to dig over the spot from which the sound 
proceeds, and so get at the fox. 
bolt 1 (bolt), adr. [< bolti, . or c.] 1. Like a 
bolt or arrow: as, "rising bolt from his seat," 
G. P. R. James. 
There she sat unit upright ! 
Barhatn, Ingoldsby Legends. L 260. 
2. Suddenly; with sudden meeting or collision. 
[He) came bolt up against the heavy dragoon. 
Thackeray. 
nee ts. Dormant bolt, a door-bolt operated hy a special 
bowlt, boolt, 80. bout, boirt; < ME. batten, < OF. 
nulter. earlier buleter (mod. F. bluter; ML. re- 
key or knoi>. Key-head bolt, a iwlt with a projection baiter, earlier buleter (mod. F. bluter; ML. re- 
from the chamfer of its head to hold it so that it will not flex buletarc) for 'bureter (= It. burattare), 
*fifiW 5H "^ 
ImiiiliiKi. the bolts on the splinU'r-bar to which the traces 
are attached. 
cloth (cf. dim. buretel. bttrtel, mod. F. hliilmu 
= It. burattello, a bolter, meal-sieve: see 6oni- 
