bolt 
teft) (= It. bitratto, a meal-sieve, a fine trans- 
parent cloth), dim. of bure, mod. F. bure, a 
coarse woolen cloth, < ML. burra, a coarse 
woolen cloth (whence also ult. E. borel, burrel, 
bureau), < L. burns, reddish: see burrel, bu- 
reau, birrus, biretta, etc. Cf. bunfi.~\ 1. To 
sift or pass through a sieve or bolter so as to 
separate the coarser from the finer particles, 
as bran from flour; sift out: as, to bolt meal; 
to bolt out the bran. 
This hand, 
As soft as dove's down, and as white as it ; 
... or the fann'd snow, 
That's bolted by the northern blasts twice o'er. 
Shak., W. T., Iv. 3. 
2. To examine or search into, as if by sifting; 
sift; examine thoroughly: sometimes with out, 
and often in an old proverbial expression, to 
bolt to the Iran. 
For I ne can not bolt it to the bran, 
As can the holy Doctor Augustiu, 
Or Boece or the Bishop Bradwardin. 
Chaucer, Nun's Priest's Tale, 1. 420. 
Time and nature will bolt out the truth of things. 
Sir R. L Estrange. 
The report of the committee was examined and sifted 
and bolted to the bran. Burke, A. Regicide Peace, iii. 
3. To moot, or brin 
as in a moot-court. 
forward for discussion, 
ee bolting?, 2. 
I hate when Vice can bolt her arguments, 
And Virtue has no tongue to check her pride. 
Milton, Comus, 1. 760. 
bolt 2 (bolt), . [Early mod. E. also boult, So. 
bout, bowt; < ME. bult, < bnlten, bolt.] 1. A 
sieve ; a machine for sifting flour. 2. In the 
English inns of court, a hypothetical point or 
case discussed for the sake of practice. 
The Temple and Gray's Inn have lately established lec- 
tures, and moots and boults may again be propounded 
and argued in these venerable buildings. 
X. and Q., 7th ser., III. 84. 
boltant (bol'tant), a. [< bolt 1 , v., + -ant.'] In 
her., springing forward: applied to hares and 
rabbits when represented in this attitude. 
bolt-auger (bolt'a'ger), n. A large auger used 
in ship-building to bore holes for bolts, etc. 
bolt-boat (bolt'bot), n. A strong boat that 
will endure a rough sea. 
bolt-chisel (b61t'chiz"el), n. A deep, narrow- 
edged cross-cut chisel. 
bolt-clipper (bolt'klip"er), w. A hand-tool fit- 
ted to different sizes of bolts, and used to cut 
off the end of a bolt projecting beyond a nut. 
bolt-cutter (bolt ' kut " er), n. 1. One who 
makes bolts. 2. A machine for making the 
threads on a screw-bolt; a bolt-threader or 
bolt-screwing machine. 3. A tool for cutting 
off the ends of bolts. 
boltel (bol'tel), n. [Also written boultel. early 
mod. E. (and mod. archaic) boutel, bowtell, also 
corruptly bottle; < late ME. boltell, bowtell; ori- 
gin uncertain ; perhaps < bolt 1 , an arrow, shaft, 
roll (with ref. to its shape; cf. shaft, in its 
architectural sense), + -el. Formations with 
the F. dim. suffix -el on native words were 
not usual in the ME. period, but this may be 
an artificial book-name. The 18th century boul- 
tin, boultine, seems to be an arbitrary varia- 
tion. Cotgrave has F. " bosel, a thick or great 
boultel (commonly) in or near unto the basis 
of a pillar."] 1. 'in arch., a convex molding 
of which the section is an arc of a circle ; a 
medieval term for the torus or roundel. 2. A 
rounded ridge or border used for stiffening a 
cover, dish, tray, or other utensil. 
Boltenia (bol-te'ni-a), n. [NL., after Dr. 
Bnlten, of Hamburg'.'] A genus of tunicates, 
by most recent authors referred to the family 
Cyntlmdce, but by a few made type of a family 
Bolteniidce. 
bolteniid (bol-te'ni-id), n. A tunicate of the 
family Bolteniidce. 
Bolteniidae (bol-te-ni'i-de), n. pi. [NL., < Bol- 
tenia + -idee.] A family of simple ascidians, 
typified by the genus Boltenia, having a pyri- 
form body supported upon a long peduncle or 
stalk. By most recent systematists it is de- 
graded to the rank of a subfamily of Cynthiidos. 
bolter 1 (bdTter), . [< bolt 1 , v., + -*.] One 
who bolts, in any sense of the verb. Specifically 
(a) One who bolts or turns aside ; a horse that bolts. (6) 
In politics, one who leaves the party, or refuses to sup- 
port the candidate, ticket, or platform of the party, to 
which he has been attached. [U. S.] 
Mr. Converse . . . had the indecency to denounce the 
twenty-seven as bolters from their party. 
The American, VIII. 100. 
bolter 2 (bol'ter), n. [Early mod. E. also boul- 
ter, < ME. bulter, bulture, < bulten, bolt, sift : see 
bolt? and -er 1 . Cf. OF. buleteor, sifter, < bukter, 
616 
sift. Cf. boultel' 2 .'} A sieve; an instrument or 
machine for separating bran from flour, or the 
coarser part of meal from the finer. 
Host. I bought you a dozen of shirts to your back. 
F al. Dowlas, filthy dowlas : I have given them away to 
bakers' wives, and they have made bolters of them. 
Shak., 1 Hen. IV., iii. 3. 
bolter 3 (bol'ter), n. [Also boulter, bulter: same 
as button}.] A kind of fishing-line. 
These hakes, and divers others of the fore-cited, are 
taken with threads, and some of them with the bolter, 
which is a spiller of a bigger size. 
R. Carew. Survey of Cornwall. 
bolter 4 t, v. i. and t. [A variant of baiter, clot, 
known chiefly in the compound blood-boltered. 
in Shakspere. See blood-boltered and baiter.] 
To clot. 
bolter-cloth (bol'ter-kloth), n. Cloth used for 
making bolters ; bolting-cloth. 
bolt-feeder (bolt'fe"der), n. An apparatus for 
controlling the supply of flour in a bolting- 
mill. 
bolt-head, bolt's-head (bolt'-, bolts'hed), n. A 
long straight-necked glass vessel for chemical 
distillations. Also called matrass and receiver. 
He 
Will close you so much gold, in a bolt's-head, 
And, on a turn, convey in the stead another 
With sublimed mercury, that shall burst in the heat. 
B. Jonson, Alchemist, iv. 4. 
bolt-hole (bolt'hol), n. In coal-mining, a short, 
narrow opening made to connect the main 
workings with the air-head or ventilating drift: 
used in the working of the Dudley thick seam, 
in the South Staffordshire (England) coal-field. 
See square-work. 
bolt-hook (bolt'huk), n. A check-rein hook 
bolted to the plates of a saddletree. 
bolti (bol'ti), n. [< Ar. boltuiy.] A fish of the 
family Cichlidce (or Chromididce), Tilapia (or 
Chromis) nilotica, found in Egypt and Palestine. 
It is an oblong fish, with 15 to 18 spines and 12 to 14 rays 
in the dorsal fin. The color is greenish olive, darker in 
the center of each scale, and the vertical flns are spotted 
with white. It is highly esteemed for its flesh, and re- 
garded as one of the best ol the Nile fish. Also called 
baity and bulti. 
bolting 1 (bol'ting), n. [Also written boltin, bol- 
ton; Cbolt 1 , n., + -ing 1 .] A bundle or bolt of 
straw: in Gloucestershire, 24 pounds. Also 
called bolt. [Eng.] 
bolting 2 (bol'ting), . [Also written boulting ; 
< ME. bultinge; verbal n. of bolt?, v.] 1. The 
act of sifting. 
Bakers in their linnen bases and mealy vizards, new 
come from boulting. 
ilarston and Barksted, Insatiate Countess, ii. 
2f. In the English inns of court, a private argu- 
ing of cases for practice Bolting-millstone, a 
lower stone having metallic boxes alternating with the fur- 
rows. These boxes contain wire screens, through which 
the meal escapes before it reaches the skirt. 
bolting-chest (bol'ting-chest), n. The case in 
which a bolt in a flour-mill is inclosed. 
bolting-Cloth (bol'ting-kloth), n. [< ME. bul- 
ting-cloth.] A cloth for bolting or sifting; a 
linen, silk, or hair cloth, of which bolters are 
made for sifting meal, etc. 
The finest and most expensive silk fabric made is bolting- 
cloth, for the use of millers, woven almost altogether in 
Switzerland. Harper's Mag., LXXI. 266. 
bolting-cord (bol'ting-k6rd), n. A stiff piece 
of rope having the strands unraveled at one 
extremity, used as a probang to remove any- 
thing sticking in an animal's throat. 
bolting-house (bol'ting-hous), n. A house 
where meal or flour is sifted. 
The jade is returned as white and as powdered as if she 
had been at work in a bolting-house. Dennis, Letters. 
bolting-hutch t (bol'ting-huch), n. A tub or 
wooden trough for bolted flour. 
Take all my cushions down and thwack them soundly, 
After my feast of millers ; . . . beat them carefully 
Over a bolting-hutch, there will be enough 
For a pan-pudding. 
Middleton (and another), Mayor of Queenborough, v. 1. 
bolting-mill (bol'ting-mil), n. A mill or ma- 
chine for sifting meal or flour, 
bolting-tub (bol'ting-tub), n. A tub to sift 
meal in. 
The larders have been searched, 
The bakehouses and boulting tub, the ovens. 
B. Jontuu. Mafjnetick Lady, v. 5. 
bolt-knife (bolt'nlf), n. A knife used by book- 
binders for cutting through a bolt or the folded 
leaves of a section. 
boltless (bolt'les), a. [< bolt 1 + -less.] With- 
out a bolt. 
bolton, w. A corruption of bolting 1 . 
boltonite (bol'tqn-it), n. [< Bolton, in Massa- 
chusetts, + -ite?.] A mineral of the chrysolite 
group, occurring in granular form at Bolton, 
bombace 
Massachusetts. It is a silicate of magnesium, 
containing also a little iron protoxid. 
bolt-rope (bolt'rop), n. A superior kind of 
hemp cordage sewed on the edges of sails to 
strengthen them. That part of it on the perpendicu- 
lar side is called the leech-rope ; that at the bottom, the 
foot-rope ; that at the top, the head-rope. To the bolt- 
rope is attached all the gear used in clewing up the sail 
and setting it. 
We heard a sound like the short, quick rattling of 
thunder, and the jib was blown to atoms out of the bolt- 
rope. R. H. Dana, Jr., Before the Mast, p. 254. 
bolt's-head, n. See bolt-head. 
boltsprit (bolt'sprit), .. A corruption of bow- 
tprit. 
bolt-Strake (bolt'strak), n. Naut., the strake 
or wale through which the fastenings of the 
beams pass. 
bolty, . See bolti. 
bolus (bo'lus), n. [< L. bolus, > E. bole?, q. v.] 
1. A soft round mass of anything medicinal, 
larger than an ordinary pill, to be swallowed 
at once. 2. Figuratively, anything disagree- 
able, as an unpalatable doctrine or argument, 
that has to be accepted or tolerated. 
There is no help for it, the faithful proselytizer, if she 
cannot convince by argument, bursts into tears, and the re- 
cusant finds himself, at the end of the contest, taking down 
the bolus, saying, " Well, well, Bodgers be it." Thackeray. 
bolyet, See booty. 
bom (bom), )). [Also boma, bomma, aboma; 
orig. a native name in Congo, subsequently ap- 
plied to a Brazilian serpent.] Same as aboma. 
bomah-nut (bo'ma-nut), n. [< bomah (native 
name) + nut.'] The seed of a euphorbiaceous 
shrub, Pycnocoma macrophylla, of southern 
Africa, used for tanning. 
Bomarea (bo-ma're-a), n. [NL., < Valmont de 
Bon/are, a French 'naturalist of the 18th cen- 
tury.] A genus of amaryllidaceous plants, na- 
tives of South America and Mexico. The roots 
are tnberiferous, the leafy stems frequently twining, and 
the flowers, which are often showy, in simple or compound 
umbels. There are over 50 species. See salsilla. 
bomb 1 !, " * [< ME. bomben, bumben, variant 
forms of bommen, bummen, > 2mm 1 , later boom 1 : 
see 6am 1 , boom 1 , and cf. bomb?, v.] A variant 
of boom 1 . 
What overcharged piece of melancholia 
Is this, breakes in betweene my wishes thus, 
With bombing sighs? 
B. Jonson, The Fortunate Isles. 
bomb 1 t, " [Var. of bum 1 , the earlier form of 
boom 1 . Cf. bomb 1 , r.] A great noise; a loud 
hollow sound; the stroke of a bell. 
A pillar of iron, . . . which if you had struck would 
make a little flat noise in the room, but a great bomb in 
the chamber beneath. Bacon. 
bomb 2 (bom or bum), n. [Early mod. E. also 
borne, also bombe, bombo, and (simulating boom 1 
= bomb 1 ) boomb; = G. bombe, < F. bombe = Sp. 
It. bomba, a bomb, < L. bombus, < Gr. /36ftj3o, a 
deep hollow sound ; prob. imitative, like bomb 1 , 
boom 1 , bum 1 , bumble, bump?, etc. The histori- 
cal pron. is bum.] 1. An explosive projec- 
tile, consisting of a hollow ball or spherical 
shell, generally of cast-iron, filled with a burst- 
ing charge, fired from a mortar, and 
Bomb. 
a, a, walls of 
shell-, i, fuse- 
hole ; c, cavity 
for powder. 
^ Uj^ usually exploded by means of a fuse 
/" ' ^k or tube filled with a slow-burning 
[if i ] compound, which is ignited by the 
', \ ,'"' exploding powder when Uw mortM 
is iliscliiii'KCcl. j;,.m!jsniiiy be thrown in 
such a direction as to fall into a fort, a city, 
or an enemy's camp, where they burst with 
grout violence, and often with terrible effect. 
The length and composition of the fuse must 
be calculated in such a way that the bomb 
shall burst the moment it arrives at the des- 
tined place. Bombs are now commonly termed shells, 
though shell in the sense of a projectile has a wider mean- 
ing. See shell. Also called bombshell. 
Hence 2. Anymissile constructed upon sim- 
ilar principles: as, a dynamite bomb. 3. In 
geol., a block of scoria ejected from the crater 
of a volcano. 
This deposit answers to the heaps of dust, sand, stones, 
and bombs which are shot out of modern volcanoes ; it is 
a true ash. Oeikie. 
4f. A small war-vessel carrying mortars for 
throwing bombs ; a bomb-ketch. 
bomb 2 t (bom or bum), r. t. [< bomb?, n.] To 
attack with bombs ; bombard. 
Villeroy, who ne'er afraid is, 
To Bruxelles marches on secure, 
To bomb the monks and scare the ladies. 
J'rivr, On taking Samur. 
bombacet, [Early mod. E. also bombase, 
bombage; < OF. bombace, < ML. bontliax (ace. 
bombacem), cotton : see Bombax. The form bom- 
bace subsequently gave way to bombast, q. v.] 
1. The down of the cotton-plant; raw cotton. 
