Dictionary entry

Bolt (3)

Webster's Dictionary 1913

Bolt (bōlt; 110), v. i. 1. To start forth like a bolt or arrow; to spring abruptly; to come or go suddenly; to dart; as, to bolt out of the room.

This Puck seems but a dreaming dolt,...

And oft out of a bush doth bolt.

Drayton.

2. To strike or fall suddenly like a bolt.

His cloudless thunder bolted on their heads.

Milton.

3. To spring suddenly aside, or out of the regular path; as, the horse bolted.

4. (U.S. Politics) To refuse to support a nomination made by a party or a caucus with which one has been connected; to break away from a party.