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.

to do or accept something difficult or unpleasant We've all experienced unpleasant moments when we had to bite the bullet and apologize for something we did.

to make yourself do something or accept something difficult or unpleasant They decided to bite the bullet and pay the extra for the house they really wanted. Car drivers are biting the bullet after another rise in petrol prices.

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.

To face a painful situation bravely and stoically.

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.