unbolt

present singular third person unbolts · participle present unbolting · participle past unbolted · past unbolted

1. transitiveTo unlock by undoing the bolts of.

   Then, sweet my lord, I’ll call mine uncle down; He shall unbolt the gates.

   c. 1602 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Tragedie of Troylus and Cressida”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act IV, scene ii]

   3 more examples

   Diesel engines roar, trailer trucks rumble over the streets and an air wrench screams as a worker at the tire repair shop on the corner unbolts a wheel from a sanitation truck.

   1985 May 6, Anthony Depalma, “ABOUT REAL ESTATE; TRANSFORMING A WEST VILLAGE WAREHOUSE INTO OFFICES”, in The New York Times

   A young orangutan in the San Diego Zoo became famous for unbolting the screening of his crib, removing the wires, and moving through the zoo nursery, unscrewing lightbulbs.

   2003 June 7, Edward Tenner, “'Our Own Devices'”, in The New York Times

   Then I hid the knife I kept under my pillow, cleaned the dust from my shoes, and carefully unbolted the door.

   2006 December 11, Jeffrey Goldberg, “‘Prisoners’”, in The New York Times