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| a screen or mat covered with a dark material for shielding a camera lens from excess light or glare. |
| a chattering or flighty, light-headed person. |
Based on the Random House Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2012.
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bite the bullet definition
To adjust to unpleasant circumstances: “The severe drought is forcing everybody to bite the bullet and use less water.” Before anesthesia, people undergoing surgery would bite on a bullet to help them withstand the pain.
Copyright © 2005 by Houghton Mifflin Company.
Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.
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bite the bullet definition
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Copyright 2007. Published by McGraw Hill.
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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.
Copyright © 1997. Published by Houghton Mifflin.
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