sit bolt upright

sit bolt upright

1. To have a very erect posture while sitting. The teacher demands that we all sit bolt upright during the lesson, scolding us should we begin to slouch. The seat of the train was so stiff that I ended up sitting bolt upright for nearly three hours.
2. To very suddenly or abruptly assume an erect posture while sitting. I awoke from the nightmare and sat bolt upright in my bed. We all sat bolt upright when the principal suddenly barged into class.
See also: bolt, sit, upright
Farlex Dictionary of Idioms.

sit bolt upright

to sit up straight. Tony sat bolt upright and listened to what the teacher was saying to him. After sitting bolt upright for almost an hour in that crowded airplane, I swore I would never fly again.
See also: bolt, sit, upright
McGraw-Hill Dictionary of American Idioms and Phrasal Verbs.
See also:
  • sat
  • be as stiff as a ramrod
  • slouch down
  • (as) straight as a ramrod
  • ramrod straight
  • spring to attention
  • the rough side of (one's) tongue
  • the rough edge of (one's) tongue
  • the rough edge of your tongue
  • bolt down
References in classic literature
'Only suppose,' returned Bella, 'that poor Pa was to sit bolt upright in another corner.'
If yesterday's public risk assessment got Theresa May and other cabinet ministers to sit bolt upright they will have achieved their goal.
She would "sit bolt upright and dance" whenever Coldplay CDs were played at her hospital bedside, she told9NEWS.
No, I'm going to sit bolt upright gasping at the terrifying realisation that I've FORGOTTEN TO HAVE A BABY!
My survival instinct forced me to sit bolt upright, although I found out afterwards that was totally the wrong thing to do.
I sit bolt upright in bed, roused from deep sleep by a man shouting in my ear: "Who shot the Byreman?" Panic-stricken, I grab the snoring Dreamboat by my side and sob: "Someone shot the Byreman!" The woman of my dreams disentangles herself from my feverish embrace, switches on the light and points to my radio.
HENRIK STENSON used to fall asleep watching The Masters as a kid but the one moment that made him sit bolt upright was the legendary bunker shot from Sandy Lyle in 1988.
SOME statistics make you sit bolt upright in your seat.
"The party congress is likely to be a gruelling chore for Kim, who as party secretary will be expected to sit bolt upright in front of thousands of deputies and TV cameras at least for five hours a day and probably stand up while delivering one of the interminable speeches beloved of dictators everywhere," South Korea's Chosun Ilbo newspaper reported.
At times the language sparkles with imagery as when Melchior receives the call: It first filled his ears as a roar like that of a lion and it made him sit bolt upright in the bed as a chill waved across his flesh.
I must have been in a very deep sleep as the second he touches my arm I sit bolt upright, look right at him and say in a very loud, Texan voice 'howdy partner' and wink.
When you live from day to day with the thought that your neighbour is not 100 per cent normal, it's easy to awake in the dead of night, sit bolt upright in bed and find yourself covered in a film of cold sweat.
I found myself having to sit bolt upright in front of the screen - and I have good eyesight!
"Whaaaaaaaat?!!" would come the exasperated reply as the elder in question wrestled with sofa cushions and a brimful tea-cup to sit bolt upright in his chair.
There is no need to sit bolt upright - let the back of the chair take your weight - the chair should give support to your shoulder blades.