bolt to the bran
English
editEtymology
editSee bolt (“sieve”).
Verb
editbolt to the bran (third-person singular simple present bolts to the bran, present participle bolting to the bran, simple past and past participle bolted to the bran)
- (idiomatic, transitive) To examine thoroughly, so as to separate or discover everything important.
- 1735, Walter Harte, An Essay on Reason:
- This boults the matter fairly to the bran.
- 1795–1797, Edmund Burke, “(please specify |letter=1 to 4)”, in [Letters on a Regicide Peace], London: [Rivington]:
- The report of the committee was examined and sifted and bolted to the bran.