What is the origin of the idiom To Bite The Bullet?

Answer 1

To "bite the bullet" is to stop trying to avoid an unavoidable task, steel yourself for the pain and get it over with. It could be declaring bankruptcy or meeting your future in-laws.

Before modern painkillers, during medical procedures a solid item was placed in the mouth so that the one being operated on would not bite their tongue off. Sometimes a piece of wood was used but on the battlefield it was usually a lead bullet, hence the term 'bite the bullet.'

The bullet gave the patient something to focus on, besides, say, the amputation of their leg. It also helped to reduce their inclination to scream, making it a little easier for the one doing the operation.

The bullet, being made of lead, was soft and malleable, so that it did not crack the patient's teeth.

Answer 2

In the old west pain-killers were not readily available to the cowboys out on the plains so when they had to dig something out of their bodies (like a bullet, or arrow, or sliver, or wart) they needed something to bite on - as a way of handling the pain. Now when you bite on things it is helpful to have something that 1. won't damage your teeth or 2. get damaged by you biting it. Rocks are plentiful but they will break your teeth. A leather belt is ideal but belts are valuable and biting on it will decrease its value. A bullet is relatively cheap and is made of malleable metal so it won't damage your teeth and cowboys like to carry copious amount around with them, so they got used a lot.

The meaning of the idiom therefore is 'to endure the worst part of an ordeal', 'get it over with it'.

One trouble with biting bullets however is the small possibility of it going off. There was once a horse Doctor Who was while digging a bullet out of an old cowboy got his patient to bite on a bullet to help him handle the pain. Unfortunately the bullet went off and shot the doctor across the side of his face taking off part of his ear. So the doctor took out his gun and shot the cowboy.

Answer 3

"To bite the bullet" means to "suck it up". It is used when one must do something one doesn't want to do. It comes from the American Civil War, in which soldiers would literally bite a lead bullet to keep from screaming during amputation.

Answer 4

To "bite the bullet" is to endure a painful or otherwise unpleasant situation that is seen as unavoidable. The phrase was first recorded by Rudyard Kipling in his 1891 novel The Light that Failed.