Green’s Dictionary of Slang

1. a swift departure, thus phr. do a bolt, make a bolt, to run off.

1812		Vaux Vocab. of the Flash Lang.
1826		‘Nocturnal Sports’ in Universal Songster II 180/1: In my bolt knocked down [...] an old voman’s oyster-stall.
1830		Lytton Paul Clifford I 127: Before Paul had recovered sufficiently to make an effectual bolt, he was prostrated to the earth by a blow from the other and undamaged watchman.
1837		‘The Romance of a Day’ in Bentley’s Misc. June 571: Dick exhibited the cheque – not relishing the idea of a ‘bolt’.
1845		J. Lindridge Sixteen-String Jack 236: Now then, my boy, let’s make a bolt of it.
1852		in N.E. Eliason Tarheel Talk (1956) 261: The worst feature . . . is the ‘bolt’ . . . this lawyer has been a ‘free-soiler,’ having ‘bolted’ from our party.
1861		M.E. Braddon Trail of the Serpent 226: I see that case was dead against him – the money in his pocket [...] and a very evident attempt at a bolt.
1877		J. Greenwood Dick Temple III 160: My proposition, my brick, is [...] to make a bolt of it – you and I – to America.
1892		H. Nisbet Bushranger’s Sweetheart 192: He is meditating a bolt and only wants time to gather his cash all in.
1896		Kent & Sussex Courier 15 Jan. 3/4: Don’t make a bolt from your 7 o’clockj dinner-table to you club.
1905		Sporting Times 22 Apr. 1/1: The viva voce examination was on ‘general knowledge,’ and the examiner asked the little girl what does ‘a bolt from the blue’ mean. The child hesitated for one moment. ‘A sailor deserting his ship,’ she answered.
1914		A. Brazil Leader of the Lower School 197: ‘I’m going to do a bolt — don't give me away!’.
1925		Wodehouse Carry on, Jeeves 221: ‘I think a little change of scene would be judicious.’ ‘Do a bolt?’.
1932		Nottingham Eve. Post 12 jan. 6/2: There was no time to make a bolt for it, as it was crouching for a spring.
1936		G. Greene Gun for Sale (1973) 154: Then we dropped him by the bookstall and did a bolt.
1941		Dundee Eve. Teleg. 20 Mar. 4/1: Fisher folk on the island saw them drop their rifles and make a bolt for a hide-out under the clifffs.

2. (US campus) the act of deliberately missing a class or meeting.

1854		Sophomore Indep. (Union College) Nov. n.p.: Bolt . . . The promiscuous stampede of a class collectively. Caused generally by a few seconds tardiness of the professor, occasionally by finding the lock of the recitation-room door filled with shot.
1856		B.H. Hall College Words (rev. edn) 32: bolt. An omission of a recitation or a lecture.
1896		W.C. Gore Student Sl. in Cohen (1997) 18: bolt [...] 2. n. An absence from class.
1900		E.H. Babbitt ‘College Words and Phrases’ in DN II:i 24: bolt, n. Refusal of a class to attend college exercises for the purpose of coercing the faculty.

3. (US campus) the cancellation of a class or meeting.

1955

W. White ‘Wayne University Sl.’ AS XXX:4 302: bolt, n. A class cut by a professor.

4. (Aus./UK) an act of running away, of absenting oneself; an escape from prison.

1848		J. Syme Nine Years in Van Diemen’s Land 195: He enjoys the much-prized luxury of ease and idleness, at the same time very posssibly forming the plan of his next ‘bolt’.
1897		‘Price Warung’ Tales of the Old Regime 94: A good start was everything in a ‘bolt’.
1914		E. Dyson Spats’ Fact’ry (1922) 34: Mention marriage even in a whisper, ’n’ there’s a bolt.
1916		J. Buchan Greenmantle (1930) 217: I had felt that I could move freely and at the worst make a bolt for it.
2001		D. Looser Boobslang [U. Canterbury D.Phil. thesis] 23/1: bolt n. 1 an escape.