At that time, rifles used greased paper cartridges that needed to be bitten to be opened and their powder released. The versions bite the cartridge and bite the bullet as we know it today may date to the Indian Rebellion of 1857. It is a point of honour in some regiments, among the grenadiers, never to cry out, or become nightingales, whilst under the discipline of the cat of nine tails to avoid which, they chew a bullet.” A soldier who, as the term is, sings out at the halberts. In it, he defines the term nightingale and uses the phrase in his definition: The latter dates to the late 1700s in the text A Classical Dictionary of the Vulgar Tongue by Francis Grose. However, there does appear to be early evidence of use of the similar phrases bite the cartridge and chew a bullet. This is speculation, though, as there don’t seem to be historical records of the phrase bite the bullet.

Because lead, the main material in a bullet, is soft, the doctors knew it wouldn’t break their patients’ teeth and thus be an acceptable alternative.Īnother thought is that because pieces of wood or wooden sticks are called billets, the phrase could have begun as bite the billet-never referring to bullets at all-yet, over time, been modified and changed to bite the bullet. It’s thought that on the battlefield when perhaps wood or leather wasn’t available, soldiers may have instead been given a bullet to clench in their teeth. The purpose was twofold: to keep them somewhat distracted from the intense pain and also to keep them from biting their tongues.

One holds that, before anesthesia was available during surgery, patients would be given a wooden stick or strip of leather to bite down on. She hated visiting the dentist, but her tooth was throbbing so she had to bite the bullet and go.Īlthough we don’t know for sure the exact origins of this expression, there are several theories.

Mary didn’t want to tell her family she lost her job, but she had to bite the bullet and come clean.It was time for Wes to bite the bullet, throw out his favorite boots, and buy a new pair afterall, the soles were worn thin and there were holes in the leather.In her last semester, Rachel knew she had to bite the bullet and enroll in the math class she’d been dreading taking.After determining he was lost and couldn’t find the historic site on his own, Bill had to bite the bullet and stop and ask for directions.Here are some example sentences using the idiomatic phrase bite the bullet: Yet, the expression can be used in all of these scenarios. While an “uncomfortable” action for you, it’s not painful or difficult in the same way as, say, having to get a root canal or even telling someone news that will disappoint them. For instance, maybe you really hate doing the laundry. Sometimes the expression is used hyperbolically, or to exaggerate or overstate the truth. Of course, the types of things you don’t want to do vary widely, and may not actually be physically painful or all that difficult. In this way, bite the bullet further means to endure an undesirable event with courage, strength, and fortitude-to behave bravely in the face of challenging circumstances. When you bite the bullet, you accept the inevitable and handle the resulting pain or discomfort as best as you can. In other words, it’s typically used to describe something you really don’t want to do, because it’s unpleasant in one way or another, but that you ultimately have to go through with. Maybe you put it off for a while, but eventually it must be done. Most often, the phrase is used to describe a difficult situation that simply can’t be avoided. And that gets at the definition of this idiomatic expression: to endure an uncomfortable situation. If you wince or flinch when hearing or reading the phrase bite the bullet, it makes sense-and you’re not alone! Biting down on a bullet would be incredibly painful and unpleasant.

Biting the bullet quotes