bullet

bulletproof

1. adjective Resilient or impervious to bullets, as of fabric or other material. That bulletproof vest saved my life!2. adjective Resistant to mishandling, abuse, damage, error, or malfunction. Don't worry about breaking the phone, these new models are bulletproof! We've developed a bulletproof computer program that even the most non-computer-savvy person will be able to use!3. adjective Extremely well planned or thought out, such as to be impervious to criticism or failure. We have a bulletproof plan for tackling poverty in the neighborhood. My thesis proposal is absolutely bulletproof.4. verb To make resilient or impervious to bullets, as of fabric or other material. After crime rates rose in the city, many stores began bulletproofing their windows and doors.5. verb To make resistant to mishandling, abuse, damage, error, or malfunction. Don't worry about breaking the phone, these new models have been totally bulletproofed! We've bulletproofed our latest computer program so that even the most non-computer-savvy person will be able to use it!6. verb To plan or think something out so well as to be impervious to criticism or failure. Make sure you bulletproof your plan before you submit it to the developers. I spent an extra two weeks totally bulletproofing my doctoral thesis.

dodge a bullet

To narrowly avoid something or some situation that turns out to be undesirable, disastrous, dangerous, or otherwise harmful. A: "I heard that John has become a drug addict and is living out of his car. Didn't you two used to date?" B: "Yeah, but we broke up about five years ago. Looks like I dodged a bullet on that one." I really dodged the bullet when my exam was postponed to next week, as I hadn't studied for it at all!See also: bullet, dodge

magic bullet

1. A drug, treatment, or medical therapy that provides an immediate cure to an ailment, disease, or condition without negative side effects or consequences. Despite the amazing leaps in medical technology and knowledge, we're still quite a ways off from developing a magic bullet in cancer treatment. Beware any person or company trying to sell you a magic bullet for your health problems. If it sounds too good to be true, it usually is!2. Something that provides an immediate and extremely effective solution to a given problem or difficulty, especially one that is normally very complex or hard to resolve. There's no magic bullet that will solve the homelessness crisis in this country.See also: bullet, magic

number one with a bullet

1. Of a song, number-one on Billboard Magazine's charting system and still gaining in terms of sales or playtime on the radio. (The "bullet" in this phrase refers to an icon placed next to a song that makes rapid progress in the charts.) And now, number one with a bullet, here's the new hit single from Taylor Swift!2. By extension, far better than anything/anyone else; having rapidly become the best, most authoritative, or most dominant among others in a certain group. The findings of this remarkable study truly mark Dr. Colvin as number one with a bullet in her field. The tech giant started of humbly, but it became number one with a bullet in the mid-'90s.See also: bullet, number, one

take a/the bullet (for someone)

1. Literally, to jump in front of and absorb the impact of a bullet from a gun being fired at someone else. It's one of the basic duties of bodyguards to take the bullet for their clients if someone tries to kill them.2. By extension, to accept or put oneself in the way of some misfortune, difficulty, blame, or danger as a means of protecting someone else. I don't know why you always feel like you have to take the bullet for your bosses when they screw up. They never reward your loyalty in any way. I used to take a lot of bullets when I worked as a PR representative for the senator.See also: bullet, take

bite the bullet

To do or accept something unpleasant, often after a period of hesitation. The phrase is thought to have come from the military, perhaps because biting a bullet was a common practice for patients, due to a lack of anesthesia. I don't actually enjoy cleaning, but I bite the bullet and do it so that everything in my house isn't covered in a thick layer of dust. I know she's disappointed to have not gotten her dream job, but the sooner she bites the bullet and accepts it, the sooner she can move on.See also: bite, bullet

silver bullet

Something that provides an immediate and extremely effective solution to a given problem or difficulty, especially one that is normally very complex or hard to resolve. The phrase is almost always used in a statement that such a solution does not exist. There's no silver bullet that will solve the homelessness crisis in this country. The way to make progress is through deliberate, logical discussions around the issue.See also: bullet, silver

sweat blood

1. To work very intensely and diligently; to expend all of one's energy or effort doing something. We sweated blood for six months straight, but we finally got our product finished and on store shelves. My mother and father sweated blood to provide for me and all my siblings.2. To suffer intense distress, anxiety, worry, or fear. My passport had expired just before the trip, so I was sweating blood as we went over the border into Canada. Some of these kids sweat blood every time we have to give them a test.See also: blood, sweat

sweat bullets

To suffer intense distress, anxiety, worry, or fear. My passport had expired just before the trip, so I was sweating bullets as we went over the border into Canada. Some of these kids sweat bullets every time we have to give them a test.See also: bullet, sweat

get the bullet

To lose one's job. Primarily heard in UK. You're going to get the bullet if you keep coming into work late.See also: bullet, get

bullet-stopper

slang A US Marine. Please, I'm no bullet-stopper—I was in the Air Force.

faster than a speeding bullet

Extremely fast. The phrase was most famously used to describe Superman in the theme song to Adventures of Superman. You're gonna have to run faster than a speeding bullet to beat this girl—she can maintain a pace that is basically superhuman.See also: bullet, faster, speeding

bite the bullet

Sl. to accept something difficult and try to live with it. You are just going to have to bite the bullet and make the best of it. Jim bit the bullet and accepted what he knew had to be.See also: bite, bullet

sweat blood

and sweat bulletsFig. to be very anxious and tense. What a terrible test! I was really sweating blood at the last. Bob is such a bad driver. I sweat bullets every time I ride with him.See also: blood, sweat

bite the bullet

Behave bravely or stoically when facing pain or a difficult situation, as in If they want to cut the budget deficit, they are going to have to bite the bullet and find new sources of revenue . This phrase is of military origin, but the precise allusion is uncertain. Some say it referred to the treatment of a wounded soldier without anesthesia, so that he would be asked to bite on a lead bullet during treatment. Also, Francis Grose's Dictionary of the Vulgar Tongue (1796) holds that grenadiers being disciplined with the cat-o'nine-tails would bite on a bullet to avoid crying out in pain. See also: bite, bullet

sweat blood

1. Also, sweat one's guts out. Work diligently or strenuously, as in The men were sweating blood to finish the roof before the storm hit. The phrase using guts was first used about 1890, and that with blood shortly thereafter. 2. Suffer mental anguish, worry intensely, as in Waiting for the test results, I was sweating blood. This usage was first recorded in a work by D.H. Lawrence in 1924. Both usages are colloquial, and allude to the agony of Jesus in Gethsemane (Luke 22:44): "And being in an agony he prayed more earnestly: and his sweat was as it were great drops of blood falling down to the ground." See also: blood, sweat

sweat bullets

Perspire profusely; also, suffer mental anguish. For example, We were sweating bullets, sitting in the sun through all those graduation speeches, or It was their first baby, and David was sweating bullets while Karen was in labor. The bullets in this expression allude to drops of perspiration the size of bullets. [Slang; mid-1900s] See also: bullet, sweat

sweat blood

INFORMALIf you sweat blood, you work very hard to achieve something. I've been sweating blood over this report. I sweat blood to write songs with tunes that you can remember.See also: blood, sweat

bite the bullet

COMMON If you bite the bullet, you accept a difficult situation or force yourself to do something unpleasant. The same stressful event might make one person utterly miserable, while another will bite the bullet and make the best of it. If your internet connection isn't working, you'll probably have to bite the bullet and phone the technical support department. Note: During battles in the last century, wounded men were sometimes given a bullet to bite on while the doctor operated on them without any anaesthetic or painkillers. See also: bite, bullet

get the bullet

BRITISH, INFORMAL, OLD-FASHIONEDIf someone gets the bullet, they lose their job. The banks are still making money but they only have to have one bad year and everybody gets the bullet. Note: You can also say that someone is given the bullet. Pike was out of work for 2½ years after being given the bullet as the team's youth boss.See also: bullet, get

bite the bullet

face up to doing something difficult or unpleasant; stoically avoid showing fear or distress. This phrase dates from the days before anaesthetics, when wounded soldiers were given a bullet or similar solid object to clench between their teeth when undergoing surgery. 1998 Joyce Holms Bad Vibes Once he accepted it as inevitable he usually bit the bullet and did what was required of him with a good grace. See also: bite, bullet

sweat blood

1 make an extraordinarily strenuous effort to do something. 2 be extremely anxious. informalSee also: blood, sweat

sweat bullets

be extremely anxious or nervous. North American informalSee also: bullet, sweat

bite the ˈbullet

(informal) realize that you cannot avoid something unpleasant, and so accept it: Getting your car repaired is often an expensive business, but all you can do is bite the bullet and pay up.This expression comes from the old custom of giving soldiers a bullet to bite on during medical operations, which had to be done without any drugs to stop the pain.See also: bite, bullet

sweat ˈblood

(informal)
1 work very hard; make a very great effort: I sweated blood to get that essay finished on time.
2 be very worried or afraid: He sweats blood every time the telephone rings, in case it’s the police.See also: blood, sweat

bite the bullet

tv. to accept something difficult and try to live with it. You are just going to have to bite the bullet and make the best of it. See also: bite, bullet

bullets

n. nipples. Nice boobage. Nice bullets. See also: bullet

bullet-stopper

n. a U.S. Marine. (From the Persian Gulf War.) About a dozen bullet-stoppers came into the bar and the army guys tried to start a fight.

faster than a speeding bullet

and FTASB phr. & comp. abb. Very fast. (From the introduction to the old radio program, The Adventures of Superman. Superman was faster than a speeding bullet.) I’ll be there FTASB. I ordered it on Wednesday, and it was on my doorstep, faster than a speeding bullet, the next day. See also: bullet, faster, speeding

silver bullet

and magic bullet n. a specific, fail-safe solution to a problem. (From the notion that a bullet made of silver is required to shoot a werewolf.) I’m not suggesting that the committee has provided us with a silver bullet, only that their advice was timely and useful. I don’t know the answer. I don’t have a magic bullet! See also: bullet, silver

magic bullet

verbSee silver bulletSee also: bullet, magic

sweat blood

tv. to work very hard at something; to endure distress in the process of accomplishing something. (see also piss blood.) And here I sweated blood to put you through college, and you treat me like a stranger. See also: blood, sweat

sweat bullets

tv. to suffer about something; to be anxious or nervous about something; to sweat blood. The kid sat in the waiting room, sweating bullets while the surgeons worked on his brother. See also: bullet, sweat

bite the bullet

Slang To face a painful situation bravely and stoically.See also: bite, bullet

sweat blood

Informal 1. To work diligently or strenuously.2. To worry intensely.See also: blood, sweat

sweat bullets

Slang 1. To sweat profusely.2. To worry intensely.See also: bullet, sweat

bite the bullet, to

To brace oneself against pain or a difficult experience. This expression is believed to come from the days when those wounded in battle had to be treated without anesthesia and were made to bite on a lead bullet to brace themselves against the pain of surgery. Certainly this was the meaning in Rudyard Kipling’s The Light That Failed (1891): “Bite on the bullet, old man, and don’t let them think you’re afraid.” However, some authorities suggest that the term comes from the practice of gunners biting off the end of a paper-tube cartridge in order to expose the powder to the spark. In times of anesthesia and more sophisticated weaponry, biting the bullet became entirely figurative, as when P. G. Wodehouse wrote, “Brace up and bite the bullet. I’m afraid I have bad news” (The Inimitable Jeeves, 1923).See also: bite

magic bullet

A fail-safe solution to a problem. The term was coined by Paul Ehrlich (1854–1915), who won the 1908 Nobel Prize in physiology or medicine. He gave the name to a compound that selectively targeted a bacterium without affecting other organisms, specifically the agent causing syphilis. The name soon was transferred to other curative compounds, and later to other kinds of problem. For example, “The Federal Reserve has no magic bullet for dealing with high unemployment.”See also: bullet, magic

silver bullet

A highly accurate projectile of death or destruction. Sir Walter Scott may have been the first to use the idea of a literal silver bullet in Lockhart (1808), “I have only hopes that he will be shot with a silver bullet.” The term caught on in the first half of the 1900s because the popular western hero of the radio program, The Lone Ranger, used a silver bullet. During the Korean War an antiaircraft shell that hit precisely on target was called “silver bullet.” By the late 1900s the term also was being used figuratively, as in, “We’re hoping our new software will be the silver bullet to put the company on the map.”See also: bullet, silver

bite the bullet

To bear up in an unpleasant or a difficult situation. In the days before anesthesia, a wounded soldier about to undergo surgery was given a bullet to clamp in his teeth and bear down on so he wouldn't bite off his tongue from the pain.See also: bite, bullet

Bullet

bullet

[′bu̇l·ət] (engineering) A conical-nosed cylindrical weight, attached to a wire rope or line, either notched or seated to engage and attach itself to the upper end of a wire line core barrel or other retrievable or retractable device that has been placed in a borehole. Also known as bug; go-devil; overshot. A scraper with self-adjusting spring blades, inserted in a pipeline and carried forward by the fluid pressure, clearing away accumulations or debris from the walls of a pipe. Also known as go-devil. A bullet-shaped weight or small explosive charge dropped to explode a charge of nitroglycerin placed in a borehole. Also known as go-devil. An electric lamp covered by a conical metal case, usually at the end of a flexible metal shaft. torpedo (graphic arts) A hollow hemispherical shell, made of iron and filled with pitch, which holds small objects during the execution of artistic designs in metal. (graphic arts) A circle or other graphic character, about the height of a lowercase letter, used to set off items in a list. (materials) A small, lustrous, nearly spherical industrial diamond. (ordnance) The projectile fired, or intended to be fired, from a small arm.

Bullet

(pop culture)

According to Abraham Van Helsing, the vampire expert in the novel Dracula, a “sacred bullet” fired into a coffin containing a vampire will kill it. It was not an option that was pursued during the course of Dracula. Generally, however, a bullet, in this case a silver bullet, was the traditional means of killing werewolves, and guns have been thought to have little or no effect on vampires. Stoker derived this insight directly from Emily Gerard’s article, “Transylvanian Superstitions” later incorporated in her book, The Land beyond the Forest, his major source for information on Transylvania. Gerard reported that a bullet fired into the coffin was a means of killing vampires among the Transylvanian peasantry.

The idea was used in twentieth-century novels and movies, which frequently pictured the vampire’s fate when confronted with modern weaponry. In those cases, however, if the vampire was hurt by the attack, the harm was very temporary, and the vampire quickly recovered to wreak vengeance upon those secularists who would put their faith in modern mechanical artifacts.

Relative to vampire movies, attacking vampires with bullets can be divided into three categories: incidents in which a bullet is fired into a vampire’s body, usually with no effect; a bullet fired into the head with the idea of causing significant destruction to the brain; and fire from automatic weapons, which have the effect of cutting through the body (much as a large sword) destroying body parts and severing the spine. Occasionally, guns may be used to deliver silver or wood into a vampire.

Sources:

Gerard, Emily. The Land beyond the Forest. 2 vols. New York: Harper and Brothers, 1888.———. “Transylvanian Superstitions.” The Nineteenth-Century 18 (1885): 135–50. Rept. in Peter Haining, ed. The Dracula Scrapbook. New York: Bramwell House, 1975.

Bullet

the head of a cartridge for an infantry, hunting, or sporting gun.

Bullets for infantry weapons are classified as conventional and special. Conventional bullets are designed to hit personnel deployed in the open or behind shelters that can be penetrated by the bullet. Special bullets, in addition to hitting personnel, may be used as tracers for adjustment of fire and target indication. (They contain a tracer compound, which ignites upon firing and leaves a trace in flight that is visible by day or night.) Armor-piercing bullets are used for engaging lightly armored targets. Other special kinds are incendiary bullets, used for setting easily ignited substances on fire, and armor-piercing incendiary bullets, for hitting and igniting lightly armored targets. Bullets are classified by caliber as small (up to 6.5 mm), normal (7.5-7.69 mm), and large (12.7–15 mm). The bullet is held in the cartridge neck by circular crimping. Explosive dumdums have also been used in some armies.

For hunting (smooth-bore) guns there are round and special bullets. The most common special bullets are the Jacan and Brennecke.

What does it mean when you dream about a bullet?

Can be a symbol of violence, or of an attack. In traditional psychoanalysis, a bullet can be a sexual symbol (penis, impregnation). We also sometimes talk about “biting the bullet” and “sweating bullets.”

bullet

bul·let

bullet

bul•let

bullet

bullet

bullet

bullet

bulletproof

dodge a bullet

magic bullet

number one with a bullet

take a/the bullet (for someone)

bite the bullet

silver bullet

sweat blood

sweat bullets

get the bullet

bullet-stopper

faster than a speeding bullet

bite the bullet

sweat blood

bite the bullet

sweat blood

sweat bullets

sweat blood

bite the bullet

get the bullet

bite the bullet

sweat blood

sweat bullets

bite the ˈbullet

sweat ˈblood

bite the bullet

bullets

bullet-stopper

faster than a speeding bullet

silver bullet

magic bullet

sweat blood

sweat bullets

bite the bullet

sweat blood

sweat bullets

bite the bullet, to

magic bullet

silver bullet

bite the bullet

Bullet

bullet

Bullet

Bullet

What does it mean when you dream about a bullet?

bullet

bullet

Bullet

Bullet

Bullet

BULLET

bullet

Synonyms for bullet

noun projectile

Synonyms

Synonyms for bullet

noun a projectile that is fired from a gun

Synonyms

Related Words

noun a high-speed passenger train

Synonyms

Related Words

noun (baseball) a pitch thrown with maximum velocity

Synonyms

Related Words