Definitions

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

  • noun A hole through which to bolt.
  • noun A place affording escape.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • noun A hole in an animal's den, or through a wall or fence, used for escape or emergency exit; i.e. a hole the animal may bolt through.

Etymologies

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

bolt + hole

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Examples

  • The Sun's bar is a cosy bolthole at breakfast until 10.30am weekdays.

    Lancaster's 10 best budget restaurants, pubs and cafes 2011

  • No reservations Run by Englishman Mark Williamson – whose Willi's Wine Bar around the corner is a favourite local bolthole for Parisian oenophiles – this handsome restaurant with oxblood walls, wedding cake mouldings and parquet floors overlooks the Palais Royal in the heart of Paris.

    10 of the best restaurants in Paris 2011

  • What if we found a bolthole -- Prince Edward Island, in our case -- and figured out how to put food on the table ourselves?

    Holly Robinson: Moving Toward Self-Sustainability Holly Robinson 2010

  • I stayed for two days and a night in the bolthole there by the side of the laundry, not 100 yards from where I'd shot Rammstein, and I waited for all the men's rage to get lost in the drugs and then for the men to start killing each other.

    All Of My Monsters And Beautiful Women In Dreams Robert Crisman 2011

  • But from 1953, he also had his bolthole in the little village of Ussy-sur-Marne, some 35 miles outside of Paris, to which he escaped more and more frequently.

    Years of Intensity Gabriel Josipovici 2011

  • What if we found a bolthole -- Prince Edward Island, in our case -- and figured out how to put food on the table ourselves?

    Holly Robinson: Moving Toward Self-Sustainability Holly Robinson 2010

  • Yet in a first for London, a cosy bolthole in Chandos Place, near Trafalgar Square, has been named Britain's pub of the year by the Campaign for Real Ale Camra.

    Pub of the year award goes to a London local for first time 2011

  • So Boswell lit up and started running, and joined up with her, and they chased the fox back to its bolthole.

    still replying to Yuletide comments hradzka 2010

  • So Boswell lit up and started running, and joined up with her, and they chased the fox back to its bolthole.

    still replying to Yuletide comments hradzka 2010

  • It may only be a stroll from the city's famous red-light district, but this bolthole is about as homely and laid-back as a bar can get - tea lights flicker, soul music plays softly in the background, black and white photos of famous rockers frame the walls, and drinkers settle in to booths or bar tables.

    Ashes fans' guide: Sydney's new drinking dens 2010

Comments

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  • –noun

    1. a hole in the ground, protected opening in bushes, etc., into which an animal can flee when pursued or frightened.

    2. a place or avenue of escape or refuge: The remote mountain village was a safe bolt-hole for refugees during the war.

    July 8, 2009

  • “It was well that Morris’s bluff had worked, for, though he was not hiding arms in his house, he was hiding aristocrats….No one marked for death, however, could long trust his life to a Parisian bolthole.”

    -- Richard Brookhiser, “Gentleman Revolutionary”, p132 of the Free Press paperback

    September 11, 2011

  • Everyone needs a bolthole.

    May 29, 2020