unbolt

English

Etymology

Etymology tree

Proto-Indo-European *h₂ent-

Proto-Indo-European *-s

Proto-Indo-European *h₂éntsder.

Proto-Germanic *anda-

Proto-West Germanic *anda-

Old English and-

Old English on-

Middle English on-

English un-

English bolt

English unbolt

From un- + bolt.

Pronunciation

• Audio (US):

  (file)

Verb

unbolt (third-person singular simple present unbolts, present participle unbolting, simple past and past participle unbolted)

1. (transitive) To unlock by undoing the bolts of.
   • c. 1602 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Tragedie of Troylus and Cressida”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act IV, scene ii]:

     Then, sweet my lord, I’ll call mine uncle down;
     He shall unbolt the gates.

   • 1985 June 5, Anthony Depalma, “ABOUT REAL ESTATE; TRANSFORMING A WEST VILLAGE WAREHOUSE INTO OFFICES”, in The New York Times‎^[1]:

     Diesel engines roar, trailer trucks rumble over the streets and an air wrench screams as a worker at the tire repair shop on the corner unbolts a wheel from a sanitation truck.

   • 2003 July 6, Edward Tenner, “'Our Own Devices'”, in The New York Times‎^[2]:

     A young orangutan in the San Diego Zoo became famous for unbolting the screening of his crib, removing the wires, and moving through the zoo nursery, unscrewing lightbulbs.

   • 2006 November 12, Jeffrey Goldberg, “‘Prisoners’”, in The New York Times‎^[3]:

     Then I hid the knife I kept under my pillow, cleaned the dust from my shoes, and carefully unbolted the door.

Translations

unlock by undoing bolts

• Bulgarian: отлоствам (otlostvam)
• French: déboulonner (fr), déverrouiller (fr)
• Greek: ανοίγω (el) (anoígo)
• Ido: desboltagar (io)
• Italian: sbullonare

Anagrams

• Blount