Green’s Dictionary of Slang

1. (UK Und., also bolter of the Mint, bolter of Whitefriars) ‘One that doth but peep out of Whitefriars, and retire again like a rabbit out of his hole’ (Shadwell, The Squire of Alsatia, 1688) [SE bolter, a fugitive from justice. Whitefriars, near St Paul’s Cathedral, and the Mint, near Southwark, were both well-known refuges for 17C–18C villains].

1688		T. Shadwell Squire of Alsatia n.p.: Cant List: A Bolter of White-fryers. One that does but peep out of White-fryers, and retire again like a Rabbit out of his hole.
c.1698		B.E. Dict. Canting Crew n.p.: 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.
1725		New Canting Dict. n.p.: Bolter of white friars or the Mint one that peeps out, but dares not venture abroad for fear of arrests [...] one that peeps out, but dares not venture abroad; so called from Conies that often bolt out of the Hole in a Warren, and then start back again.
1737		Dyche & Pardon New General Eng. Dict. (2nd edn) n.p.: 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.
1785, 1788, 1796		Grose Classical Dict. of the Vulgar Tongue n.p.: Bolter of White Friars, one that peeps out, but dares not venture abroad for fear of arrests.

2. one who flees their obligations and responsibilities; thus esp. a woman who runs away from her husband, home and family [SE bolt, to run off, esp. used of horses and, as such, suitable for the upper/upper-middle class milieu in which it is used. The locus classicus is in Nancy Mitford’s novel The Pursuit of Love (1945), where an errant figure is known simply as ‘The Bolter’].

1821		‘An Amateur’ Real Life in London II 58: ‘What is meant by a bolter?’ ‘He is one,’ replied Dashall, ‘who, having obtained the privilege of a Day Rule, brushes off, and leaves his bondsmen, or the Marshal, to pay his debt.’.
1830		Egan Finish to the Adventures of Tom and Jerry (1889) 119: All I looks after is the tip – and to prevent bolters.
1853		Dickens Bleak House (1991) 787: Although he always knew she was the best-groomed woman in the stud, he had no idea she was a bolter.
1874		M. Clarke Term of His Natural Life (1897) 98: The bolter I was telling you about — Gabbett, your old friend.
1904		Wkly Messenger (St Martinsville, LA) 18 June 2/3: Some of the leaders of that faction were pretty severe on the bolters.
1977		‘John le Carré’ Honourable Schoolboy 450: Lizzie Worthington, suburban bolter.
1993		K. Lette Foetal Attraction (1994) 203: Gillian was what the police classified as a ‘bolter’.
2024		J. Meades Empty Wigs (t/s) 146: [S]tories of salacious transgressions, card cheats, duels, kinky indiscriminacy, audacious frauds, bolters, nobbled horses.

3. (Aus.) a bushranger.

1844		Mrs C. Meredith Notes and Sketches of New South Wales 132: A party of mounted police went in search of a very daring gang of bush-rangers, or, as they are sometimes called, ‘bolters’.
1852		Bell’s Life in Sydney 11 Sept. 1/5: Around the table we noticed Messrs Slaughter, Stifler, Bolter, Bailemup, Slyboots, Litefinger, besides many others,.

4. (Aus.) a person once serving a sentence of transportation who absconds and remains free long enough (seven years) to be given an official pardon in the newspaper.

1848		Bell’s Life in Sydney 26 Feb. 1/4: It was a queer dodge that of Sal’s; who’d have thought the traps had a down she was a bolter?
1853		C.R. Read What I Heard, Saw, and Did 179: For all I could know, he might have been a Hobart Town bolter.
1865		J.F. Mortlock Experiences of a Convict (1965) 116: Had the attempt failed, he, as a ticket-of-leave ‘bolter,’ would have been sentenced to three years at Port Arthur.
1897		(ref. to 1827) ‘Price Warung’ Tales of the Old Regime 159: Here it was that one of the ‘bolters,’ advertised [...] in the Sydney Gazette, in the year 1827, was found one morning, in the early seventies, stark-stiff dead.
1900		Bulletin (Sydney) 13 Jan. 14/2: Near New Norfolk Tas., old hands still point out the spot where a famous ‘bolter’ from his assigned service made his home in the bush.

5. (N.Z.) a horse viewed as an outsider that goes on to win; occas., a competitor who is considered unlikely to win a race.

2003

McGill Reed Dict. of N.Z. Sl. 28: bolter An outsider or racehorse on long odds that wins; sometimes applied to humans, usually in the footrace context. ANZ mid C20.