1. intr. Of a door: To have the bolt withdrawn.
1470–85. Malory, Arthur, XI. i. 571. And when he came to the chamber … the dores of yron vnlocked and vnbolted.
1680. Otway, Orphan, III. Stage Direct. The door unbolts.
1711. Mrs. Centlivre, Marplot, I. Ha! the door unbolts; which way shall I get rid of this puppy?
1748. [see UNBAR v. c].
2. trans. To draw back the bolt of, to unfasten (a door, etc.).
1598. Florio, Discadenacciare, to vnboult a doore, to vnbar.
1606. Shaks., Tr. & Cr., IV. ii. 3. Ile call mine Vnckle down; He shall vnbolt the Gates.
1650. Alsop, Serm., in A. B. Grosart, Small Sins (1863), 75, note. They bring little boys along with them,… who … unbolt the doors, and let in the whole company of thieves.
1760–72. H. Brooke, Fool of Qual. (1809), IV. 124. He … unbolted a door that opened into a garden.
1767. Phil. Trans., LVIII. 7. I tried the experiment of unbolting my windows.
1819. Scott, Ivanhoe, xx. The hermit speedily unbolted his portal.
1835. Dickens, Pickwick, xxvii. Putting his arm over the half-door of the bar, coolly unbolting it, and leisurely walking in.
1887. Bowen, Æneid, II. 266. [They] unbolt Troy’s gates, to the hosts of the fleet Entrance give.
b. In fig. contexts.
1601. Dent, Pathw. Heaven, 258. To betray vs into the hands of Satan: ye to vnbolt the doore, and let him in to cut our throats.
1648. Bp. Hall, Breathings Devout Soul (1851), 194. To enable me with strength to turn the key, and to unbolt this unwieldy bar of my soul.
1828. T. Brown, Serm., 116. We cannot unbolt or break open the gate of the temple of Knowledge.
† c. absol. To unfold, explain. Obs.
1607. Shaks., Timon, I. i. 51. Painter. How shall I vnderstand you? Poet. I will vnboult to you.
3. To withdraw, draw back (a bolt).
1655. Mrq. Worcester, Cent. Inv., § 69. To bolt and unbolt … an hundred Bolts through fifty Staples, two in each.
4. To detach by the removal of bolts.
1793. Trans. Soc. Enc. Arts, etc. (ed. 2), V. 207. By unbolting and taking off the side pipe.
Hence Unbolting vbl. sb.
[1775. Ash.]
1829. Scott, Anne of G., xix. The noise of the unbolting and unbarring of the gates.
