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They could pick off the rebels one by one long before they got close enough to do any damage. This rifle was accurate at a very long distance compared to the weapons with which both sides went into the conflict, and could be reloaded very quickly. When the yanks had Enfield rifles in numbers they could no longer be overwhelmed. Normally, when the rebel army faced off against the yankees, they would let out their famous "rebel yell" and charge headlong across the space between armies, sometimes overwhelming the other side. Late in the war the Union army received a number of Enfield rifles. : : : The Enfield rifle had a huge effect in the War Between the States (the American Civil War). The reluctance of the sepoys to "bite the bullet" resulted first in mutiny, then in a spreading rebellion among outraged Indians. Late in April 1857, sepoy troopers at Meerut refused the cartridges as punishment, they were given long prison terms, fettered, and put in jail," as the EB relates. The Indians in the British Army in India, or sepoys, believed, correctly "that the grease used to lubricate the cartridges was a mixture of pigs' and cows' lard thus, to have oral contact with it was an insult to both Muslims and Hindus. One of the peculiarities of that weapon was that you had to bite off the ends of lubricated cartridges. In the 1850s the British Army in India received a new arm, the recently invented Enfield rifle, named after the arsenal in Enfield. : : : I don't know how "bite the bullet" started, but sometimes it was literally necessary to bite the bullet. : : : WOD: - bite the bullet : to enter with resignation upon a difficult or distressing course of action : : : OED: to bite (on) the bullet: to behave courageously to avoid showing fear or distress. Rudyard Kipling reflected the broader meaning in 'The Light that Failed' : "Bite on the bullet, old man, and don't let them think you're afraid.'" From The Dictionary of Cliches by James Rogers (Ballantine Books, New York, 1985).
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A surgeon about to operate on a wounded soldier would urge him to bite on a bullet of soft lead to distract him from the pain at least it would minimize his ability to scream and thus divert the surgeon.
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Although one can find other explanations, it seems most plausible that the term originated in battlefield surgery before the days of anesthesia. : : : : BITE THE BULLET - "Brace yourself for an unpleasant experience decide to get on with a difficult task. : : : : : Where does 'bite the bullet' come from? In Reply to: Bite the bullet posted by Smokey Stover on August 22, 2005 Skyhorse Publishing, 2014. How this practice could have anything to do with the figurative use of the idiom today, however, is difficult to understand.Posted by Victoria S Dennis on August 23, 2005 The Dictionary of Cliches: a Word Lover’s Guide to 4,000 Overused Phrases and Almost-Pleasing Platitudes. N.p.: Amz Digital Services, 2012.Īnother suggested origin is that the expression came from the practice of gunners biting off the end of a paper cartridge of gunpowder to expose the powder to a spark. Idioms in the News – 1,000 Phrases, Real Examples. “Bite on the bullet, old man, and don’t let them think you’re afraid.” 7 Bengelsdorf, Peter. The phrase appeared figuratively in an 1891 Rudyard Kipling story called The Light that Failed: Oxford: Oxford U, 2010.Īlso, according to the 1796 Dictionary of the Vulgar Tongue by Francis Grose, soldiers (or grenadiers, specifically) being punished for infractions with a whip would bite on a bullet so that they would not show weakness by crying out in pain. Boston: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, 2013., 6 Ayto, John. A bullet may seem an odd choice but the soft lead used meant that they would absorb the pressure of the bite without damaging the teeth. Before anesthesia was invented, army doctors performing surgery, setting bones, or cleaning wounds would have their patient bite on a lead bullet or some other object to help endure the pain and stop them from crying out. “The CEO bit the bullet and surrendered to demands for him to step down from his post.”ĭating from the 1700s, this idiom is said to be of military origin. “Going to prison forced me to bite the bullet and stop drinking.” “At some point, you’re going to have to bite the bullet and stop spending all your money on luxuries,” said Susan’s mom. Want to see more videos from Idioms.Online? Subscribe to our YouTube channel! Examples Of Use