▪ I. bullet, n.1
(ˈbʊlɪt)
Also 6 bollet(te, boolet, boullette, bullot, Sc. bullat.
[a. F. boulette (in 16th c. boullette) dim. of boule ball; cf. F. boulet = 2.]
1. (In mod. use this sense is transf. from 3.) a. A small round ball.
| 1578 Lyte Dodoens i. viii. 15 Upon the braunches [of the burdock] there groweth small bullets or rounde balles. Ibid. iv. lv. 515 It [the Reed Grass] bringeth foorth his boullettes, or prickley knoppes in August. 1664 H. More Myst. Iniq. 241 If a Beast were made of little wax bullets sticking together. 1851 D. Wilson Preh. Ann. (1863) II. iv. iii. 261 Small gold bullets..seem to have been the current coin. |
b. pl. Beans or peas.
slang.| 1929 Papers Michigan Acad. Sci., Arts & Lett. X. 282/2 Bullets, beans. 1943 Hunt & Pringle Service Slang 18 Bullets, peas. 1963 Daily Mail 26 Aug. 4/3 He [sc. a schoolboy] calls peas ‘bullets’. |
† 2. A cannon-ball (of metal or stone); sometimes
cannon-bullet.
Obs. exc. Hist.| 1557 Recorde Whetst. P iv b, A Gonne..doeth shotte a bollet of twentiepound weighte. 1560 Whitehorne Certaine Wayes (1573) 33 a, If the boolet of a peese of ordinaunce waighe xxi. pounde. 1561 Stow Chron. an. 1557 (R.) A ship before Greenwich..shot off her ordnance, one piece being charged with a bullet of stone. 1605 1st Pt. Jeronimo in Dodsley (1780) III. 98 Raise spleens big as a cannon-bullet Within your bosoms. 1703 Lond. Gaz. No. 3914/5 Their Forces..fired several Red-hot Bullets into the Town. 1882 Shorthouse J. Inglesant II. 378 More than once a cannon bullet burst into the Minster. |
3. a. A ball of lead or other metal, used in firearms of small calibre; now often conical. Formerly also collective (
cf. ball n.1 5 b).
| 1579 Gosson Sch. Abuse (Arb.) 38 The souldier is sooner killed with a little Bullet then a large Swoorde. 1652 Proc. Parliament No. 134 Ammunition..found in the Castle of Bradock..700 weight of Musket Bullet. 1758 Johnson Idler No. 10 ¶4 The man was not hurt by the bullet. 1839 tr. Lamartine's Trav. East 48/1 Beschir..precipitated himself from the top of it under a shower of bullets. |
| fig. 1599 Shakes. Much Ado ii. iii. 249 Shall quips and sentences, and these paper bullets of the braine awe a man from the careere of his humour? |
b. fig. Notice to quit, the ‘sack’.
slang.| 1841 Savage Dict. Art Printing s.v., When a workman, at case or press, either for neglect, want of punctuality, or for gross misconduct, is discharged instanter, and the usual notice of ‘a fortnight’ is not given, it is said, He has got the Bullet. 1868 T. Wright Great Unwashed 254 [One] who has..got ‘the bullet’, as the formal note intimating that, ‘owing to a reduction of our establishment your services will no longer be required’, is called among working men. 1874 Hotten Slang Dict. s.v., To shake the bullet at any one, is to threaten him with ‘the sack’, but not to give him actual notice to leave. 1887 Punch 17 Sept. 126/1, I have just got the ‘bullet’, Mate—sacked without notice. 1929 Melody Maker Jan. 9/1 You and your band are getting the bullet, Bert Ambrose is taking over the Savoy in your place. 1960 H. Pinter Caretaker i. 10 The guvnor give me the bullet. Making too much commotion, he says. 1967 Crescendo Oct. 14/1 It was only the boss's inherent good nature that saved me from the bullet. |
4. a. Formerly, The missile from a sling; also
attrib. b. The angler's plumb or sinker.
| 1587 Turberv. Trag. T. (1837) 175 The arrowes flewe from side to side, The bullot stones did walke. 1633 T. Stafford Pac. Hib. viii. (1821) 574 Captaine Roger Harvie, receevid severall bruises with stones and Iron bullets, flung upon them. 1807 Robinson Archæol. Græca iv. iii. 349 In slinging, they whirled it twice or thrice about the head, and then cast the bullet. 1847 Grote Greece (1862) VI. ii. lxx. 262 The Greeks..obtained..lead for bullets to be used by the slingers. 1867 F. Francis Angling i. (1880) 47 It is not desirable to plunge..the bullet into the water. |
5. pl. Sc. The game of bowls. [
Cf. OF. boulete in same sense.]
| 1843 Proc. Berw. Nat. Club II. No. 11. 58 In the eastern district of Berwickshire the game was called bowls or bullets. |
6. An ace in the game of brag or poker; esp in
phr. two bullets and a bragger (see
bragger 2): a winning hand; also
fig. U.S.| 1807 W. Irving Salmag. (1824) 354 One of them..exclaimed triumphantly, ‘Two bullets and a bragger!’ and swept all the money into his pocket. 1841 Spirit of Times (N.Y.) 23 Oct. 402 Zenith, Magnate, and Jim Bell are ‘two bullets and a bragger’ that Kentucky can ‘travel on’ and ‘pay expenses’. 1878 F. H. Hart Sazerac Lying Club 151 ‘Here's four bullets,’ said Brown, as he reached for the pot. 1889 Barrère & Leland Dict. Slang I. 196/1 The highest hand in the game is three white (or real) aces, the next highest is ‘two bullets and a bragger’. |
7. Phrases.
† every bullet has its lighting place.
every bullet has its billet (see
billet n.1 4).
† full bullet: of full size.
† bullet in mouth: ready for action (
cf. bouche n.1 2).
to bite (on) the bullet: see
bite v. 16.
| c 1575 Gascoigne Fruites Warre lxvii, Every bullet hath a lighting place. 1649 G. Daniel Trinarch., Hen. IV, cxxv, Some Minds are cast Full Bullett to the widest mouth of Sin. 1692 Siege Lymerick 31 The said Garrison to march out..with Arms..Bullet in Mouth, Colours flying. 1837 Dickens Pickw. xix, It is an established axiom that ‘every bullet has its billet’. |
8. Comb. and
attrib., as
bullet-bag,
bullet-boy,
bullet-buttons,
bullet-gun,
bullet-hole,
bullet-maker,
bullet-mould,
bullet-pouch; and
bullet-less,
bullet-like,
bullet-proof,
bullet-riddled,
bullet-swept adjs.; also
† bullet-bore, a tool for finishing the interior of a bullet-mould;
bullet-bush (see
quot.);
bullet-drawer, an instrument for extracting bullets from wounds;
† bullet-iron (see
quot.);
bullet-money (see
quot.);
bullet-shell, a shell used with small arms. Also
bullet-head.
| 1598 Barret Theor. Warres iii. i. 34 On his right side a *Bullet bagge or purse of canuas..for bullets. 1652 Proc. Parliament No. 170 Behind the hangings were found 66 Muskets..and the bullet bagges filled with new cast bullets. |
| 1677 Moxon Mech. Exerc. (1703) 55 The *Bullet-bore, is a Shank of Steel, having a Steel Globe or Bullet at one end, just of your intended Bullet size. |
| 1876 Daily News 18 Oct. 3/6 A *bullet boy in the Royal Arsenal, was brought up from Maidstone gaol. |
| 1731 Mortimer in Phil. Trans. XXXVII. 177 Prunus Buxi folio cordato, fructu nigro rotundo. The *Bullet-Bush. |
| 1823 F. Cooper Pioneer v. 24/1 A frock of bottle-green with *bullet buttons. |
| 1749 in Phil. Trans. XLVI. 85 The Extraction of it..by the *Bullet-drawers. |
| 1703 Maundrell Journ. Jerus. (1721) Add. 3 A long *bullet-gun could not shoot a ball over it. |
| 1869 ‘Mark Twain’ Sk. New & Old (1875) 49 Freckles me with *bullet-holes. 1917 ‘Contact’ Airman's Outings 246 We land..and count the bullet-holes on the machines. |
| 1679 Plot Staffordsh. (1686) 374 Spanish or Swedish barrs, here called *bullet-Iron. |
| 1876 E. Clark Life Japan 185 Throwing volley after volley of *bulletless smoke into the stubborn ranks of the enemy. |
| 1874 Lubbock Orig. & Met. Ins. i. 10 The species making the *bullet-like galls. |
| 1644 Prynne & Walker Fiennes's Trial 17 The said Governour..had..A Match-make[r], a *Bullet-maker. |
| 1677 Moxon Mech. Exerc. (1703) 52 The making of *Bullet molds. |
| 1879 H. Phillips Notes Coins 13 The *‘bullet-money’ of Siam is formed by bringing together the ends of oval pieces of silver. |
| 1757 Loudoun & Lyman Gen. Orders (1899) 65 The Deficiency of Powder Horns & *Bullet Pouches. 1849 Parkman Calif. & Oregon Trail 20 His bullet-pouch and powder-horn hung at his side. |
| 1856 J. Grant Black Drag. xxxvi, Others..believed in *bulletproof men, and put in a silver coin with their bullets. |
| 1905 Daily Chron. 10 Jan. 4/5 The head of the drum was so *bullet-riddled that it resembled a sieve. |
| 1897 Westm. Gaz. 3 June 2/2 The *bullet-swept square. 1901 ‘Linesman’ Words by Eyewitness (1902) 33 The bullet-swept hills above Ladysmith. |
Add:
[8.] bullet train, a passenger train which travels at very high speeds;
esp. the Japanese Shinkansen.
| 1966 Economist 14 May 698/2 Before the 1964 Tokyo Olympics, the Japanese slapped the finishing touches on the world's longest monorail system and the world's fastest ‘*bullet train’. 1988 Nature 11 Feb. 474/3 The train offers a smooth bump-free ride and can climb steeper inclines than a conventional bullet train. |
▸
Typogr. A symbol (originally and
esp. a round dot) used to mark or emphasize a paragraph, an item in a list, etc.
| 1950 N.Y. News Type Bk. 109/1 (heading) Accessories... Boxes... Bullets... Solid Diamonds. 1960 K. B. Butler & G. C. Likeness Pract. Handbk. Borders, Ornamentation & Boxes iii. 28/2 Small ornaments..are primarily useful as type-breakers, story-starters, and story-enders, in which instances they are usually referred to as dingbats, bullets, or spots. 1971 F. K. Baskette & J. Z. Sissors Art of Editing xiv. 317 Some editors have tried using various-sized dots or bullets at the beginning of a paragraph as a means of breaking up large gray masses of type. 1982 A. Shaw Dict. Amer. Pop/Rock 61 Billboard currently uses the bullet on singles charts to designate a disk that has sold one million units or more. 1993 Compute Jan. s8/3 Think about how interesting it would be to use your company logo as a bullet in a bulleted list. |
▸
bullet point n. a concise statement or summary marked with a typographical bullet,
esp. one of several in a list (also in extended use); (also) a typographical bullet.
| 1983 Datamation Sept. 221/1 Each chapter concludes with a *bullet-point list of ‘things to think about’ or ‘things to remember’, which is particularly helpful if it's been a few days between chapters. 1989 Which Computer? (Nexis) Apr. 73 The typefaces include..a Symbol typeface providing simple graphics such as stars, bullet points, stylised telephones, etc. 1999 Star-Ledger (Newark, New Jersey) 7 Nov. x. 1/1 He told the senior citizens in Monroe that he was about to give them the ‘bullet points’ of his program. 2004 New Statesman 6 Sept. 26/2 Taking Action is studded with bullet points saying what the British government is going to do next. |
▪ II. † ˈbullet, n.2 Obs. rare.
[Ultimately identical with billet n.1: in sense 1 perh. a mere corruption of that word; in sense 2 ad. It. bulletta.] 1. = billet n.1 4.
| 1612 Passenger of Benvenuto (N.) There is a bullet for the warrant of your lodging. |
2. A slip of paper on which the voter wrote the name of the candidate he supported.
Cf. bulletin.
| 1615 G. Sandys Travels 230 Elected by the Great Master and his Knights, who giue their voices by bullets, as do the Venetians. |
▪ III. ˈbullet, v. nonce-wd. [f. bullet n.1] trans. To shoot with a bullet.
| 1884 Gilbart-Smith Log o' the ‘Norseman’ 135 A veritable stuffed pig, born, bred, and bulleted in Albania. |