bolt

1. 1.

   move or jump suddenly

   “She bolted from her seat”

   Broadermove
2. 2.

   secure or lock with a bolt

   “bolt the door”

   Antonymsunbolt

   Broaderlock
3. 3.

   swallow hastily

   Broaderswallow
4. 4.

   run away; usually includes taking something or somebody along

   “The thief made off with our silver”

   “the accountant absconded with the cash from the safe”

   Synonymsabscondabsquatulatedecamprun offgo offmake off

   Broaderflee

   Narrowerlevant
5. 5.

   leave suddenly and as if in a hurry

   “The listeners bolted when he discussed his strange ideas”

   “When she started to tell silly stories, I ran out”

   Synonymsrun offrun outbolt outbeetle off

   Broaderleave
6. 6.

   eat hastily without proper chewing

   “Don't bolt your food!”

   Synonymsgobble

   Broadereat
7. 7.

   make or roll into bolts

   “bolt fabric”

   Broaderroll up

1. 1.

   in a rigid manner

   “the body was rigidly erect”

   “he sat bolt upright”

   Synonymsrigidlystiffly
2. 2.

   directly

   “he ran bang into the pole”

   “ran slap into her”

   Synonymsbangslapslapdashsmack

   colloquialism

Other forms of bolt

plural

bolts·

past tense

bolted·

present participle

bolting·

Forms marked · are formed by the regular rule rather than recorded in the source data. English keeps a few hundred irregulars and the rest follow the pattern, so the rule is right far more often than not — but it is a rule, and the mark says so.

Questions about bolt

What does bolt mean?

bolt means "a discharge of lightning accompanied by thunder". That is the primary sense; the word has 16 in total, listed in full on this page.

How many syllables are in bolt?

bolt has 1 syllable: bolt. In IPA it is /ˈboʊlt/.

What is another word for bolt?

Close synonyms include thunderbolt, bolt of lightning, deadbolt, dash, abscond. Each sense on this page lists its own synonyms, because a word with several meanings rarely has one substitute that works for all of them.

What is the opposite of bolt?

The recorded antonyms are unbolt.

Is bolt a common word?

bolt is banded "Common" — everyday vocabulary in speech and writing. The band comes from how often the word appears in a large corpus of everyday English, not from an editor's impression.

What rhymes with bolt?

3 words rhyme with bolt. Rhymes are matched on the phonemes from the last stressed vowel onward, which is the definition a reader has in their head.