bolt-on
UK/bəʊlt ˈɒn/US/ˌbolt ˈɔn/
bolt-on noun: an accessory that can be bolted on or otherwise attached.
Noun
bolt-on (plural bolt-ons)
- An accessory that can be bolted on or otherwise attached.
- Some guitars have the neck glued to the body (Les Pauls), some are bolted on (Fenders), and in some the neck is part of one piece of wood that extends through the body (Jackson). The theory of the neck through the body design is that if the pickups, bridge, and the strings (from tuners to...1988, Michael Ross, “The Electric Guitar as an Acoustic Instrument”, in Getting Great Guitar Sounds: A Non-technical Approach to Shaping Your Personal Sound, Milwaukee, Wis.: Hal Leonard Books...
- I would draw a distinction between transplants and cross-fertilisation. […] Cross-fertilisation implies a different, more indirect process. It implies that an external stimulus promotes an evolution within the receiving legal system. The evolution involves an internal adaptation by the receiving...1998, John Bell, “Mechanisms for Cross-fertilisation of Administrative Law in Europe”, in Jack Beatson, Takis Tridimas, editors, New Directions in European Public Law, Oxford: Hart Publishing, →ISBN...
- A functionality or service that can be added to an existing arrangement or plan (for example, a mobile telephone subscription).
- [I]f an innovation has reached the maturity stage of the product life-cycle, then perhaps its functionality will be developed to provide a ‘bolt-on’, with the core of the innovation remaining essentially the same. A classic example of a sustained innovation is the mobile phone, where functionality...2009, Simran K. Grewal, Lisa Harris, “Learning Virtually or Virtually Distracted?: The Impact of Emerging Internet Technologies on Pedagogical Practice”, in Niki Panteli, editor, Virtual Social...
- PureGym (puregym.com), which has more than 200 gyms across Britain, charges from £8.99 to £17.99 a month, with "bolt ons" available.2018 January 6, Ali Hussain, “New year, new financial you: The detox that could save £1800”, in The Times, London
- A breast implant.
Adjective
bolt-on (not comparable)
- Of an accessory: capable of being bolted on or otherwise attached.
- [T]he first model of this now most famous line of related types, the [Gibson] Les Paul also appeared in 1952, […] The trapeze style tailpiece and combined bar bridge was also fitted, although this gave way to a bolt-on bar bridge by 1953.1979, Ken Achard, “The Fabulous Fifties”, in The History and Development of the American Guitar (Guitar Magazine Project; G 128), London: New Musical Services, →OCLC; republished Westport, Conn.: The...
- Marketing is not an option, a bolt-on activity, or for moments when 'time allows'; it must be present all the time as the company goes about its business.1997, Patrick Forsyth, Robin Birn, “Afterword”, in Marketing in Publishing (A Blueprint Book), London; New York, N.Y.: Routledge, →ISBN, page 150
- Used to extend an existing system, operating as an add-on or plug-in.
- This week we take a close look at four top contenders in the multitasking arena […] All the multitasking systems available for microcomputers today fall into one of two distinct categories: "bolt-on" multitaskers, which add multitasking to an operating system (DOS, for example) that originally...1990 September 24, Brett Glass, Tracey Capen, “Orchestrating Applications: While Desqview Referees MS-DOS Applications, Three Graphics-based Multitaskers Promote Cooperative Look-alike Environments”...
- Enhanced Data Rates for Global Evolution (EDGE), also known as Enhanced GPRS (EGPRS), is a digital mobile phone technology which acts as a bolt-on enhancement to 2G and 2.5G General Packet Radio Service (GPRS) networks.2007, “Enhanced Data Rates for GSM Evolution”, in Jielin Dong, editor, Network Dictionary, Saratoga, Calif.: Javvin Technologies, →ISBN, page 177
Examples of bolt-on in a sentence
- In practice, a well joined glue-on and a properly fitted bolt-on will sustain just as well.1988, Michael Ross, “The Electric Guitar as an Acoustic Instrument”, in Getting Great Guitar Sounds: A Non-technical Approach to Shaping...
- The new development is a distinctive but organic product of that system rather than a bolt-on.1998, John Bell, “Mechanisms for Cross-fertilisation of Administrative Law in Europe”, in Jack Beatson, Takis Tridimas, editors, New...
- At present, it remains an addition to most subjects – a bolt-on.2011, Alan Barrow, “The Changing Educational Scene”, in Christine Bold, editor, Supporting Learning and Teaching, 2nd edition, Abingdon...
- They [the Construction (Design and Management) Regulations 1994] force organizations away from traditional ‘bolt-on’ safety, seen as being someone else’s problem.1998, Martin J. Barnard, “The CDM Regulations: Keeping an Air of Realism”, in Martin J. Barnard, editor, Health and Safety for Engineers...
Forms of bolt-on
| plural | bolt-ons |
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Questions about bolt-on
- What does bolt-on mean?
- Bolt-on means an accessory that can be bolted on or otherwise attached.
- How do you use bolt-on in a sentence?
- In practice, a well joined glue-on and a properly fitted bolt-on will sustain just as well.
- What part of speech is bolt-on?
- Bolt-on can be a noun or an adjective.
- How do you pronounce bolt-on?
- Bolt-on is pronounced /bəʊlt ˈɒn/ (UK).
- What is the plural of bolt-on?
- The plural of bolt-on is bolt-ons.
Words near bolt-on in the dictionary
Source and license
Adapted from Wiktionary: bolt-on (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.
Last updated:
Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: en-au-bolt-on.ogg.
Cite this entry: “bolt-on.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/bolt-on. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.