Bolt, bōlt, n. a bar or pin used to fasten a door, &c.: an arrow: a thunderbolt, as in 'a bolt from the blue.'—v.t. to fasten with a bolt: to throw or utter precipitately: to expel suddenly: to swallow hastily.—v.i. to rush away (like a bolt from a bow): to start up: (U.S.) to break away from one's political party.—ns. Bolt′-head, the head of a bolt: a chemical flask; Bolt′-rope, a rope sewed all round the edge of a sail to prevent it from tearing; Bolt′sprit (same as Bowsprit).—adv. Bolt′-up′right, upright and straight as a bolt or arrow.—n. Bolt′-up′rightness. [A.S. bolt; Old High Ger. bolz.]
Bolt, bōlt, v.t. (better spelling, Boult), to sift, to separate the bran from, as flour: to examine by sifting: to sift through coarse cloth.—ns. Bolt′er, a sieve: a machine for separating bran from flour; Bolt′ing, the process by which anything is bolted or sifted; Bolt′ing-hutch, a hutch or large box into which flour falls when it is bolted. [O. Fr. bulter, or buleter = bureter, from bure—Low L. burra, a coarse reddish-brown cloth—Gr. pyrros, reddish.]
Bolus, bō′lus, n. a rounded mass of anything: a large pill. [L. bolus—Gr. bōlos, a lump.]
Bomb, bom, or bum, n. a hollow projectile, usually of cast-iron, fired from a mortar, filled with gunpowder and fitted with a time-fuse: any similar missile or case of explosives, as a dynamite bomb.—n. Bom′bard, an engine or great gun for throwing bombs: (Shak.) a barrel or large vessel for holding liquor.—v.t. Bombard′, to attack with bombs.—ns. Bombardier′, the lowest non-commissioned officer in the British artillery, formerly a man employed about the mortars and howitzers; Bombard′ment; Bombar′don, a deep-toned brass instrument, with a tube likened to a bombard.—adj. Bomb′-proof, proof or secure against the force of bombs.—ns. Bomb′-shell (same as Bomb); Bomb′-vess′el, Bomb′-ketch, a vessel for carrying the mortars used in bombarding from the sea.—Bombardier beetle, a name given to several species of beetles, which discharge an acrid volatile fluid with explosive force from the abdomen. [Fr. bombe—L. bombus—Gr. bombos, a humming sound—an imitative word.]
Bombasine, Bombazine, bom′-, bum-ba-zēn′, n. a twilled or corded fabric of silk and worsted, or of cotton and worsted.—n. Bom′bax, a genus of silk-cotton trees, native to tropical America. [Fr. bombasin—Low L. bombasinum—Gr. bombyx, silk.]
Bombast, bom′-, bum′bast, n. inflated or high-sounding language: originally cotton or any soft material used for stuffing garments.—adj. Bombas′tic, high-sounding: inflated. [Low L. bombax, cotton—Gr. bombyx, silk.]
Bombax. See Bombasine.
Bombay-duck, bom-bā′-duk, n. a fish of the family Scopelidæ, nearly allied to the salmon and trout family, which is salted, dried, and eaten as a relish.
Bombyx, bom′biks, n. the silkworm. [Gr.]
Bon, bong, adj. good—French, occurring in some English but not Anglicised phrases, as Bon accord, good-will, agreement; Bon mot, a jest or smart saying; Bon ton, good style, the fashionable world; Bon vivant, one who lives well or luxuriously.