bolt – English noun declension

English noun forms of bolt

Noun: bolt
Singularbolt
Pluralbolts

Sample Sentences

  • There was the noise of a bolt shot back, and the door opened a few inches, enough to show a long snout and a pair of sleepy blinking eyes. [1908 October, Kenneth Grahame, “Mr. Badger”, in The Wind in the Willows, New York, N.Y.: Charles Scribner’s Sons, →OCLC, page 69:]
  • He shall to prison, and there die in boults. [1594, Christopher Marlow[e], The Troublesome Raigne and Lamentable Death of Edward the Second, King of England: […], London: […] [Eliot’s Court Press] for Henry Bell, […], published 1622, →OCLC, (please specify the page):]
  • Away with him to prison! Lay bolts enough upon him: [c. 1603–1604 (date written), William Shakespeare, “Measure for Measure”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act V, scene i]:]
  • All kinds of vegetables may be used as a topping, but the best are strongly flavoured ones without too much moisture, such as celery, garlic bolts, chives, scallions, or various beans (long beans, green beans etc.) ... [2013, Wong Yoon Wah, Durians Are Not the Only Fruit: Notes from the Tropics, Epigram Books, →ISBN:]
  • She ordered Cat's Ear Noodles heaped with garlic bolts and tomatoes, the broth thick with cumin, laced with black vinegar. The girl caught her accent, the sibilant sing-song of the south, and smiled, tilting her head questioningly. [2017, Adam Brookes, The Spy's Daughter, Redhook, →ISBN:]
  • Mr. Cole, Basket-maker...has lost near 300 boults of rods [1774 March 24, Stamford Mercury:]
  • Not only were the old sails being mended, but new sails were coming on board, and bolts of canvas, and coils of rigging; in short, everything betokened that the ship's preparations were hurrying to a close. [1851 November 14, Herman Melville, “All Astir”, in Moby-Dick; or, The Whale, 1st American edition, New York, N.Y.: Harper & Brothers; London: Richard Bentley, →OCLC, page 106:]
  • He had seen lightning bolts yesterday night.
  • The problem's solution struck him like a bolt from the blue.
  • With a bolt of fright he remembered that there was no bathroom in the Hobhouse Room. He leapt along the corridor in a panic, stopping by the long-case clock at the end where he flattened himself against the wall. [1994, Stephen Fry, chapter 2, in The Hippopotamus:]
  • The horse made a bolt.
  • This gentleman was so hopelessly involved that he contemplated a bolt to America — or anywhere. [1887, Charles Reade, Compton Reade, Charles Reade, Dramatist, Novelist, Journalist: A Memoir:]
  • In the event they lacked a proper midfield bolt, with Toni Kroos and Sami Khedira huffing around in pursuit of the whizzing green machine. The centre-backs looked flustered, left to deal with three on two as Mexico broke. Löw’s 4-2-3-1 seemed antiquated and creaky, with the old World Cup shark Thomas Müller flat-footed in a wide position. [2018 June 17, Barney Ronay, “Mexico’s Hirving Lozano stuns world champions Germany for brilliant win”, in Katharine Viner, editor, The Guardian, London: Guardian News & Media, →ISSN, →OCLC, archived from the original on 05 Aug 2019:]

Etymology

1. From Middle English bolt, from Old English bolt, from Proto-West Germanic *bolt, from Proto-Germanic *bultaz, perhaps from Proto-Indo-European *bʰeld- (“to knock, strike”). Compare Lithuanian beldu (“I knock”), baldas (“pole for striking”). Akin to Dutch and West Frisian bout, German Bolz or Bolzen, Danish bolt, Swedish bult, Icelandic bolti.
2. The association of thunder and lightning with 'bolts' is found back into prehistory in many cultures, at least in Eurasia. It comes from the long-standing widespread belief that lightning was caused by bolts, darts, or stones hurtling down from the sky to the earth. This belief was still regarded as commonplace until at least 1929. See: Middle English Nouns 'bolt', Old English Nouns 'bolt', Swedish Nouns 'bult', Icelandic Nouns 'bolti'.

Verbs referencing "bolt"

Dutch Nouns bout, German Nouns Bolzen, Spanish Nouns buzón, Russian Nouns болт, Ukrainian Nouns болт, Latvian Nouns bulta, Irish Nouns bolta.