<B>bolt</B> (1), noun, verb, adverb.<DL COMPACT><DD><I>noun </I> <B>1. </B>a metal rod with a head at one end and a screw thread for a nut at the other. Bolts are used to fasten things together or hold them in place. <DD><B> 2a. </B>a sliding fastening for a door or gate, especially a bar slid or dropped into place in a bracket. <BR> <I>Ex. The farmer slides the bolt in place to keep the gate from swinging.</I> <DD><B> b. </B>a similar sliding bar on certain firearms which ejects a used cartridge case, pushes a new cartridge into firing position, and closes the breech. <DD><B> 3. </B>the part of a lock moved by a key. <BR> <I>Ex. As I stood behind the door I heard Mother's key slide into the bolt.</I> <DD><B> 4. </B>a short arrow with a thick head; quarrel. Bolts were shot from crossbows. <DD><B> 5. </B>a discharge of lightning. <BR> <I>Ex. It came like a bolt from the sky.</I> (SYN) thunderbolt. <DD><B> 6. </B>a sudden start; a running away. <BR> <I>Ex. The rabbit saw the man and made a bolt for safety.</I> <DD><B> 7a. </B>a roll of cloth (in the United States usually 40 yards). <DD><B> b. </B>a roll of wallpaper. <DD><B> 8. </B>(U.S.) a refusal to support one's political party or its candidates. <DD><I>v.t. </I> <B>1. </B>to fasten with a bolt. <BR> <I>Ex. Bolt the doors.</I> <DD><B> 2. </B>to eat hastily; swallow (food) quickly without chewing. <BR> <I>Ex. The hungry dog bolted his food.</I> <DD><B> 3. </B>to blurt out; say hastily. <DD><B> 4. </B>(U.S.) to break away from (one's political party); refuse to support (a party or its candidates). <BR> <I>Ex. Several delegates to the convention are expected to bolt the party ticket.</I> <DD><B> 5. </B>to make up (cloth or wallpaper) into bolts. <DD><I>v.i. </I> <B>1. </B>to dash off; run away. <BR> <I>Ex. The horse bolted at the sight of the car.</I> <DD><B> 2. </B>(U.S.) to break away from or refuse to support one's political party or its candidates. <DD><B> 3. </B>to move suddenly or swiftly; dart. <BR> <I>Ex. In therefore he bolted and ... turned the key (Thomas De Quincey).</I> (SYN) rush, spring. <DD><B> 4. </B>to go to seed very quickly, or become so tall or rank as to be unusable for food. <BR> <I>Ex. Some kinds of lettuce bolt in hot weather.</I> <DD><I>adv. </I> with one bolt or rush; directly. <BR><I>expr. <B>bolt from the blue,</B> </I>a sudden, unexpected happening; surprise. <BR> <I>Ex. The news of the attack on Pearl Harbor came as a bolt from the blue.</I> <BR><I>expr. <B>bolt upright,</B> </I>stiff and straight. <BR> <I>Ex. Awakened by the noise of the crash, he sat bolt upright in bed.</I> <BR><I>expr. <B>shoot one's bolt,</B> </I>to do as much or as well as one can; expend all one's available resources. <BR> <I>Ex. What can they forsee that we don't know about? It's no use asking the producers concerned; they've shot their bolt (New Scientist).</I> adj. <B>boltless.</B> </DL>
<A NAME="bolt">
<B>bolt</B> (2), transitive verb.<DL COMPACT><DD><B> 1. </B>to sift through a cloth or sieve. Flour is bolted to remove the bran. <DD><B> 2. </B>(Figurative.) to examine by sifting; search into carefully; separate. </DL>
<A NAME="boltaction">
<B>bolt action,</B><DL COMPACT><DD> an action on the breech of a gun that consists of a manually operated sliding bolt with a projecting handle. The bolt is pulled back after each shot to eject the shell and pushed forward to reload. </DL>
<A NAME="bolter">
<B>bolter</B> (1), noun.<DL COMPACT><DD><B> 1. </B>a horse that runs away. <DD><B> 2. </B>(U.S.) a person who breaks away from or refuses to support his political party or its candidates. </DL>
<A NAME="bolter">
<B>bolter</B> (2), noun.<DL COMPACT><DD> a cloth, sieve, or machine used for sifting flour or meal. </DL>
<B>bolthead, </B>noun.<DL COMPACT><DD><B> 1. </B>the head of a bolt. <DD><B> 2. </B>(formerly) a round or oval matrass. </DL>
<A NAME="bolthole">
<B>bolt-hole, </B>noun. <B>=loophole.</B></DL>
<A NAME="boltingcloth">
<B>bolting cloth,</B><DL COMPACT><DD><B> 1. </B>cloth, as of linen or silk, for bolting or sifting meal. <DD><B> 2. </B>the silk to which the stencil is applied in silk-screen printing. </DL>
<A NAME="boltonia">
<B>boltonia, </B>noun.<DL COMPACT><DD> any one of a genus of perennial plants native to North America and eastern Asia, having white or purplish flowers with yellow centers. </DL>
<A NAME="boltrope">
<B>boltrope, </B>noun.<DL COMPACT><DD> a rope sewed around the edges of canvas sails to give shape, prevent ripping, and permit easier attachment to yards. </DL>
<A NAME="boltzmannconstant">
<B>Boltzmann constant,</B><DL COMPACT><DD> a constant in physics equal to 1.38 X (10 to the power of minus 16) ergs per molecule per degree, a fundamental constant in the kinetic theory of gases; molecular gas constant. </DL>
<A NAME="boltzmanndistribution">
<B>Boltzmann distribution,</B><DL COMPACT><DD> an equation that expresses the distribution of energies for a collection of particles at a fixed temperature, based on the Boltzmann constant. </DL>
<A NAME="bolus">
<B>bolus, </B>noun.<DL COMPACT><DD><B> 1. </B>a medicine in the form of a large, roundish pill that can be swallowed, used especially in veterinary medicine. <DD><B> 2. </B>a lump of chewed food, ready to be swallowed. <BR> <I>Ex. great boluses of spiced mutton ... (Rudyard Kipling).</I> <DD><B> 3. </B>any small, rounded mass. </DL>
<A NAME="boma">
<B>boma, </B>noun.<DL COMPACT><DD> in central Africa: <DD><B> 1. </B>a stockade erected as protection against wild animals. <DD><B> 2. </B>a blind or hiding place for a hunter. <DD><B> 3. </B>the administrative headquarters of a district commissioner. </DL>
<A NAME="bomarc">
<B>Bomarc, </B>noun.<DL COMPACT><DD> (U.S.) a winged ground-to-air, antiaircraft missile, guided by radar. </DL>
<A NAME="bomb">
<B>bomb, </B>noun, verb.<DL COMPACT><DD><I>noun </I> <B>1. </B>a container filled with an explosive. A bomb is exploded by a fuze or by the force with which it hits something or by a time mechanism. Bombs may be filled with a chemical substance and are sometimes dropped from aircraft. <DD><B> 2. </B>any similar explosive device. <BR> <I>Ex. a tear gas bomb.</I> <DD><B> 3. </B>a container filled with an insecticide, paint, cosmetic, or other liquid under pressure that comes out as spray or foam; aerosol bomb. <DD><B> 4. </B>(Figurative.) a sudden, unexpected happening; disturbing surprise. <DD><B> 5. </B>(U.S. Slang.) a failure; flop. <BR> <I>Ex. The show was a bomb and closed after three performances.</I> <DD><B> 6. </B>(British Slang.) a great deal of money; a fortune. <BR> <I>Ex. "A bright boy like you. You could make a bomb" (Punch).</I> <DD><B> 7. </B>(American Football Slang.) a long pass. <BR> <I>Ex. [He] has learned the proper way to catch "the bomb"--the high pass (Time).</I> <DD><B> 8. </B>(Geology.) a great mass of lava thrown out of a volcano. <DD><B> 9. </B>a type of computer virus. <BR> <I>Ex. A bomb does nothing until some event--such as a particular date--triggers it (Ian Stewart).</I> <DD><I>v.t. </I> <B>1. </B>to hurl bombs at; drop bombs on. <BR> <I>Ex. to bomb a target.</I> <DD><B> 2. </B>(Baseball Slang.) to hit hard and far. <BR> <I>Ex. [He] bombed the first pitch thrown to him to left field for a two-run homer (New York Times).</I> <DD><I>v.i. </I> <B>1. </B>to attack with bombs; drop bombs. <DD><B> 2. </B>(U.S. Slang.) to fail; flop. <BR> <I>Ex. ... Philadelphia, where many another road show has bombed (Time).</I> <BR><I>expr. <B>bomb out,</B> </I>to destroy or devastate by bombing. <BR> <I>Ex. The center of Berlin was largely bombed out, with jagged blocks of undestroyed buildings and acres of cleared-off wasteland (Atlantic).</I> <BR><I>expr. <B>the bomb</B> or <B>the Bomb,</B> <DD><B> a. </B>the atomic bomb. </I> <I>Ex. The Americans built and used the bomb (Scientific American).</I> <DD><B> b. </B>nuclear weapons collectively. <BR> <I>Ex. For a quarter of a century now, he [man] has lived with the Bomb (Time).</I> adj. <B>bomblike.</B> </DL>
<A NAME="bombacaceous">
<B>bombacaceous, </B>adjective.<DL COMPACT><DD> of or having to do with plants of the bombax family. </DL>
<A NAME="bombachas">
<B>bombachas, </B>noun pl.<DL COMPACT><DD> the wide, baggy trousers worn by gauchos. </DL>
<A NAME="bombard">
<B>bombard, </B>verb, noun.<DL COMPACT><DD><I>v.t. </I> <B>1. </B>to attack with heavy fire of shot and shell from big guns or rockets. <BR> <I>Ex. Artillery bombarded the enemy lines.</I> (SYN) shell. <DD><B> 2. </B>to drop bombs on; bomb. <BR> <I>Ex. Aircraft bombarded the factories and destroyed them.</I> <DD><B> 3. </B>(Figurative.) to keep attacking vigorously. <BR> <I>Ex. She bombarded me with one question after another.</I> (SYN) assail. <DD><B> 4a. </B>to strike (the nucleus of an atom) with a stream of fastmoving particles to change the structure of the nucleus. <DD><B> b. </B>to cause (particles) to strike a substance. <DD><I>noun </I> <B>1. </B>the earliest kind of cannon, throwing a stone ball or very large shot. <DD><B> 2. </B>a small warship armed with mortars for throwing bombs; bomb ketch. <DD><B> 3. </B><B>=bombardon.</B> noun <B>bombarder.</B> noun <B>bombardment.</B> </DL>
<A NAME="bombarde">
<B>bombarde, </B>noun.<DL COMPACT><DD><B> 1. </B>a powerful bass reed stop on the organ. <DD><B> 2. </B>the manual with that stop. </DL>
<A NAME="bombardier">
<B>bombardier, </B>noun.<DL COMPACT><DD><B> 1. </B>the member of the crew of a bomber who operates the bombsight and the bomb-release mechanism. He controls the course of the aircraft in its final approach to the target. <DD><B> 2. </B>(British.) a noncommissioned officer in the British artillery. <DD><B> 3. </B>(Obsolete.) an artilleryman. </DL>
<A NAME="bombardierbeetle">
<B>bombardier beetle,</B><DL COMPACT><DD> any one of various ground beetles which discharge a small cloud of irritating vapor with an audible sound when in danger. </DL>
<A NAME="bombardon">
<B>bombardon, </B>noun.<DL COMPACT><DD><B> 1. </B>an old, deep-toned wind instrument, of the oboe or bassoon family. <DD><B> 2. </B>a similar quality of organ stop. <DD><B> 3. </B>a bass tuba. </DL>
<A NAME="bombasine">
<B>bombasine, </B>noun. <B>=bombazine.</B></DL>
<A NAME="bombast">
<B>bombast, </B>noun, adjective.<DL COMPACT><DD><I>noun </I> <B>1a. </B>showy or high-flown language that is without much meaning. <BR> <I>Ex. A few plain facts are better than a lot of bombast.</I> <DD><B> b. </B>overstatement; tall talk. <DD><B> 2. </B>cotton wool used to stuff or pad garments. <DD><I>adj. </I> <B>=bombastic.</B> </DL>
