This appears to be the most likely answer, although it’s possible we don’t have a complete history. Soldiers bit bullets, which could be easily concealed in their mouths, to avoid crying out (and thus becoming “nightingales") during their floggings. The cat-of-nine-tails was a whip used for corporal punishment. It is a point of honor 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.” “Nightingale - A soldier who, as the term is, sings out. Here’s Grose’s definition of a “nightingale,” an antiquated phrase for a coward. In the 1788 text A Classical Dictionary of the Vulgar Tongue, lexicographer Francis Grose-himself a former soldier-suggested the phrase came from military punishments. Perhaps the phrase started among soldiers who were trying to ready one other for battle: “Just bite the bullet, and we can start fighting.” Read on to learn about its meaning and origin. While this seems like a plausible origin of the phrase, there’s nothing especially painful about biting off the top of a paper cartridge. Bite the bullet was first used as an expression by Rudyard Kipling in his book, The Light That Failed in 1891. To load their muskets, gunmen would bite the cartridge open so they could pour in the gunpowder and jam the ball in behind it. bite the bullet - Translation and Meaning in All English Arabic Terms Dictionary. In other words, it means that a person should accept the coming. Half the cartridge contained the musket ball, and half contained the gunpowder that the musket ball needed to fire. The phrase bit the bullet means to accept the reality and then face the consequences. Besides, the phrase predates the Civil War.Īnother theory: Musket ammunition was supplied to gunmen in a paper cartridge. Often soldiers had to literally bite the bullet during a surgical. Of course, a utilitarian may here bite the bullet by denying the outrage, but others will find the bullet too hard to bite. While some believe this arose during the Civil War, when field amputations were common, etymology blog The Phrase Finder notes that Civil War surgeons would have had access to ether and other anesthetics-soldiers wouldn’t be forced to bite bullets, sticks, or other items. Biting finds expression in an usually large range of idioms that might find expression in dreams: bite the bullet, their bark is worse than their bite, bite off more than you can chew, bite the dust, bite the hand that feeds you, bite their head off, and they won’t bite. The rational alternative is more attractive to most people, but you reject this alternative and bite the bullet, along with the others. Origin: 18th Century, British English - The phrase was first recorded by Rudyard Kipling in his 1891 novel The Light that Failed. The lead balls, while not exactly nutritious, would absorb the bite without damaging their teeth. Patients would either die or “bite the bullet" and undergo a horrific operation. The lead was softer than his teeth and would not damage them when he bit down.The exact origins of the phrase are difficult to pin down, but it’s generally attributed to the practice of biting on a bullet during warfare to deal with pain or discomfort.Īccording to one theory, soldiers would bite bullets during field amputations during the Civil War. In the absence of wood, the patient would be given a bullet to bite.
The term bite the bullet means to start what will be a pain experience.īefore the advent of anaesthesia, a patient undergoing surgery would bite on a piece of wood to prevent shattering his teeth by clenching his jaw. Such reluctant soldiers were told to just bite the bullet. Indian soldiers were often reluctant to do this because the casing was coated with animal fat, the eating of which (dependent on the type of fat) was against their religion. Sealed with animal fat, the casing was often difficult to separate from the bullet head, and it had to be opened by biting the casing. Accept the inevitable impending hardship and endure the resulting pain with fortitude. At that time, bullets had to be primed by filling the casing with gunpowder. Whats the meaning of the phrase Bite the bullet. If someone tells you to just bite the bullet, they understand you dont want to carry out the. This term most likely derives from the time of the British Empire in India. The term bite the bullet means to do something against your will. If someone tells you to just bite the bullet, they understand you don't want to carry out the action but want you to do it anyway. The term bite the bullet means to do something against your will.
Search our site by Craig Shrives What Is the Origin of the Saying "To Bite the Bullet"?
0 kommentar(er)
