bite the bullet

Word by word

bite · the · bullet

Idiomatic sense

To brace, and do the thing one has been dreading. Make the call. Pay the invoice. Have the conversation. The phrase is the moment of resolve, not the pain itself.

Current use is about forcing oneself past reluctance. It is not a phrase for enduring a wound, even if a story about surgery is told as the origin.

Examples

1. I hated the conversation, but I bit the bullet and called.

   I dreaded that conversation, and then I went ahead and called.

2. Sometimes you bite the bullet and pay the invoice.

   Sometimes you brace yourself and just pay.

Equivalents

Marks say how far the other phrase travels with this one. How to read them.

1. near

   German

   in den sauren Apfel beißen

   To bite into the sour apple. To make oneself do the unpleasant thing. A very close job, and a different object in the mouth.

2. near

   Spanish

   hacer de tripas corazón

   To make a heart of one's guts. To pluck up the resolve and go through with it.

3. near

   Japanese

   腹をくくる

   To bind up one's belly, that is, to commit and face the hard thing. Same resolve. A different body.

4. near

   Chinese

   硬着头皮

   To harden the scalp and go ahead into the unpleasant thing. Same forcing of oneself.

5. partial

   French

   serrer les dents

   To clench one's teeth. Endurance, which may be passive. Bite the bullet goes on and does the act.

Notes

A story in which patients bit a bullet during field surgery is widely repeated. It is not adopted here as established. The meaning above is the one a speaker is using now.

Sources

• Standard informal idiom. Current sense as above. Wording is original.