▪ I. bolter1, boulter
(ˈbəʊltə(r))
Forms: 5 bulture, -tar, 5–7 bulter, 6 north. bowter, bultre, boultar, 5– boulter, 7– bolter.
[f. bolt v.1 + -er1: or ? a. OF. buleteor one who sifts, f. buleter to bolt v.1]
1. One who sifts meal, etc.
| c 1440 Promp. Parv. 55 Bulture [1499 bultar]. c 1450 Voc. in Wr.-Wülcker 688 Hic polentradinator, a bulter. 1481–90 Howard Househ. Bks. 27 John Xpofer, a boulter. 1548 Udall, etc. Erasm. Par. Pref. to King 10 a, The boulter tryeth out the branne from the mele. |
2. A piece of cloth used for sifting; a sieve, strainer; a bolting-machine. Also fig.
| 1530 Palsgr. 462/1, I boulte meale..in a boulter. 1546 Langley Pol. Verg. De Invent. iii. i. 64 b, Bultres of lynnen in Spayne. 1564 Bauldwin Mor. Philos. (Palfr.) 169 b, Bee not like the Boulter that casteth out the flower and keepeth in the bran. 1596 Shakes. 1 Hen. IV, iii. iii. 81, I haue giuen them away to Bakers Wiues, and they haue made Boulters of them. 1616 Surfl. & Markh. Countr. Farm 574 The temze or bolter through which they passe. 1704 Swift T. Tub vii, By some called the Sieves and boulters of learning. 1880 T. Hardy Trumpet-Major II. xxii. 123 Bob opened the bolter..the result being that a dense cloud of flour rolled out. |
b. The fabric used for this purpose.
| 1612 Naworth Househ. Bks. 43, Iij yardes of boulter ijs. vjd. 1754 Stow's Surv. (ed. Strype) II. v. xviii. 382/2 [Duty on] Bolters and Bewpers the dozen pieces 1d. |
3. ‘A boulter or a racket to play with, reticulum.’ Withals Dict. (1634) 615.
4. Comb., as bolter-cloth.
| 1586 Cogan Haven Health (1636) 125 Searsed through lawne, or a fine boulter cloth. |
▪ II. ˈbolter2
[f. bolt v.2 + -er1.]
1. a. One that bolts or runs; esp. a horse that bolts.
| 1840 Thackeray Paris Sk.-bk. (1872) 244 The engine may explode..or be a bolter. 1871 Le Fanu Checkmate II. xiii. 123 Kickers and roarers, and bolters and jibbers. |
b. A fugitive from justice. Now Austral. hist.
| 1699 B. E. Dict. Cant. Crew, Bolter of White Friers, one that Peeps out, but dares not venture abroad, as a Coney bolts out of the Hole in a Warren, and starts back again. 1737 Dyche & Pardon Dict. (ed. 2), Bolter, a Cant Name for one who hides himself in his own House, or some priviledged Place, and dares only peep, but not go out of his Retreat. 1855 Argus (Melbourne) 19 Jan. 5/4 The arrest in London of a well-known bolter from Melbourne. 1897 ‘P. Warung’ Tales Old Régime 160 One of the ‘bolters’, advertised by Mr. F. A. Hely, J.P., Principal Superintendent of Convicts, in the Sydney Gazette, in the year 1827. 1964 R. Ward Penguin Bk. Austral. Ballads 23 Some convicts ‘took to the bush’ as ‘bolters’ or bushrangers. |
2. One who ‘bolts’ from his party. (U.S.)
| 1883 Atl. Monthly LII. 327 To whom a ‘scratcher’ or a ‘bolter’ is more hateful than the Beast. 1884 American VIII. 100 To denounce the twenty-seven as bolters from their party. |
3. One who swallows (food) hastily or whole.
| 1825 New Monthly Mag. XVI. 178 Pettifogging strainers at gnats and bolters of camels. 1833 T. Hamilton Men & Manners in Amer. I. ii. 44 The most expeditious bolters of dinner. |
▪ III. bolter3
var. boul-, bulter, a long fishing line.