Bolt

All current uses and connotations of the word bolt come from the projectile that was fired from a crossbow. This was known as a bolt or quarrel. By the early 13th century, to bolt meant to run away quickly in imitation of the speed of a bolt from a crossbow and stable doors were being shut after horses had bolted. Around the year 1400, bolt as in a bolt of canvas or cloth was so-called because of its bolt-like shape. By the late 14th century, Chaucer was describing someone in The Miller’s Tale as “long as a mast and upright like a bolt” thus bolt upright soon passed into the language, stemming from the similarity to a crossbow bolt. From the 16th century, a lightning or thunderbolt was so called because it resembled the speed of a bolt. From about 1580, we began bolting our doors because a door bolt resembled a crossbow bolt. Finally, from the late 18th century, we started to bolt or gulp down our food with allusion, once again, to the speed of the original projectile. See also shutting the stable door after the horse has bolted and shoot one’s bolt.