bolt upright

(redirected from bolted upright)
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bolt upright

1. verb To suddenly sit or stand up from a reclining position. I bolted upright in bed when the phone rang in the middle of the night.
2. adjective Very erect in posture. The teacher instructed us to be bolt upright on the stage during the assembly.
See also: bolt, upright

bolt upright

Precisely perpendicular, erect in carriage, as in She sat bolt upright in her pew. This expression was used in slightly different form by Chaucer in the late 1300s: "She was ... long as a mast and upright as a bolt" ( The Miller's Tale).
See also: bolt, upright

bolt ˈupright

with your back very straight in an upright position: The noise woke her suddenly and she sat bolt upright in bed.
See also: bolt, upright

bolt upright

In a rigidly vertical position: sat bolt upright.
See also: bolt, upright
References in periodicals archive ?
He says: "My first year here, Saturday morning I bolted upright in my tent at 4am and started to get dressed and was convinced I had missed my alarm for my set."
Hatty japes for Ezra; with Ashleigh Rainbird from Glastonbury THE DIARY
He has just bolted upright and launched into a period of aggressive typing, looking more like a piano player on amphetamines than a businessman.
OFF THE CUFF
One had been bolted upright on the roof of a restaurant in Wexford Street, Dublin and the other on an enormous hoarding on the Naas Road dual carriageway outside the city.
Thieves hit bulls-eye in Colin Farrell kidnap plan
In shock, I bolted upright, knocking over the free carbon monoxide detector we'd been given last year.
OFF THE CUFF
MY wife bolted upright in bed as ominously as a corpse with wind.
Football: When Vinnie was simply plane crazy
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