dogbolt

Origin obscure. Possibly from Middle English *dolgbote, from Old English dolgbōt (“remedy or compensation for injury”), from dolg (“injury, wound”) + bōt (“remedy, boot”).

dogbolt (plural dogbolts)

1. (obsolete, derogatory) A fool; a contemptible person.
   • 1583, William Fulke, edited by Charles Henry Hartsthorne, A Defence of the Sincere and True Translations of the Holy Scriptures into the English Tongue, against the Manifold Cavils of Gregory Martin, published 1843, page 469:

     And experience sheweth, that he which was void of gifts before he was ordered priest, is as very an ass and dogbolt as he was before, […] .

   • 1621, Thomas Middleton, Honourable Entertainments, 2007, Gary Taylor, John Lavagnino, Collected Works, page 1440,

     Dull dogbolt!

   • 1655, James Shirley, The Gentleman of Venice Act 3, Scene 1, 1833, William Gifford, Alexander Dyce (editors), The Dramatic Works and Poems of James Shirley, Volume 5, page 35,

     They are dogbolts!

   • 1822, [Walter Scott], chapter IV, in Peveril of the Peak. […], volume III, Edinburgh: […] Archibald Constable and Co.; London: Hurst, Robinson, and Co., →OCLC, page 83:

     Thou wilt never be such a dogbolt to refuse a hint to a friend?

From dog +‎ bolt.

dogbolt (plural dogbolts)

1. The bolt of the capsquare over the trunnion of a cannon.[1]

• “dogbolt”, in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: G. & C. Merriam, 1913, →OCLC.

• Godbolt