right of the independently minded to revolt against partisan rule, as 'He bolted the party nominations.' Also substantively, as 'He has organized a bolt.' The word derived this meaning from its sporting application to a horse when it becomes unmanageable on the race-course. Cf., Bolter. It is rarely used with its dictionary meaning in political connections; and, when so used, is generally misunderstood by the average reader.
1871. St. Louis Democrat, 3 April. 'Several of our contemporaries have announced it as a well-established fact, that Carl Schurz has bolted from the Republican party. We have the very best authority for denying the report.'
1888. Daily Inter-Ocean, 3 Feb. What the Register does object to are the fellows who bolt the ticket and support the opposition candidate when they can not control nominations.
3. (colloquial.)—To eat hurriedly without chewing; to swallow whole; to gulp down. Wolcot in a note to the first quotation hereunder appended, explains bolt as a Hampshire word. 'A rapid deglutition of bacon, without the sober ceremony of mastication.'
1794. Wolcot ('P. Pindar'), Ode to Tyrants, in wks. (Dublin, 1795), vol. II., p. 527. Bold push'd the Emp'ror on, with stride so noble, Bolting his subjects with majestic gobble.
1843. Dickens, Martin Chuzzlewit, ch. xvi., p. 171. Dyspeptic individuals bolted their food in wedges.
1857. Dickens, Dorrit, bk. I., ch. xiii., 101. 'Give me as short a time as you like to bolt my meals in, and keep me at it.'
1883. Daily Telegraph, Jan. 10, p. 5, col. 3. The dangerous habit of bolting a light luncheon in two or three minutes.
Getting the bolt, phr. (thieves').—Being sentenced to penal servitude. Cf., Boat.
To turn the corner of Bolt Street, phr. (popular).—A humorous expression for running away. Cf., Bolt, sense 1, also Queer Street, and for synonyms, see Amputate.
Bolter, subs. (old).—1. Explained
by quotation. The privileged
places referred to were such as
Whitefriars, the Mint, Higher
and Lower Alsatia, etc.
1748. T. Dyche, Dictionary (5 ed.). Bolter (s.), a cant name for one who hides himself in his own house, or some privileged place, and dares only peep, but not go out of his retreat.
2. One who 'bolts'; especially applied to horses, but figuratively to persons in the sense of one given to throwing off restraint; in American parlance one who 'kicks' (q.v.).
1840. Thackeray, Paris Sk. Bk. (1872), 244. The engine may explode . . . or be a bolter, [m.]
1850. F. E. Smedley, Frank Fairlegh, ch. xiii. 'Three of the horses had never been in harness before, and the fourth was a bolter.'
1852. Dickens, Bleak House, ch. lviii., p. 483. This sparkling sally is to the effect that, although he always knew she was the best-groomed woman in the stud, he had no idea she was a bolter. It is immensely received in turf-circles.
1881. C. J. Dunphie, The Chameleon, p. 17. It is better to ride a steady old plodder than to trust your neck to a bolter.
3. (American.)—One who exercises the right of abstention in regard to his political party. See Bolt, verb, sense 2.
1883. Atlantic Monthly, LII., 327. To whom a 'scratcher' or a bolter is more hateful than the Beast, [m.]
