How many times have we heard the phrase,

“Bite the bullet”? 

The First Definition Comes from the 1850’s 

A was cartridge used in the British Enfield rifle that had a paper tube, the end of which riflemen had to bite off to expose the powder to the spark.  The rifleman had to remain calm when reloading in the midst of battle.  This gave rise to the expression to ‘bite the bullet’…or to stand firm while under attack.

Second Theory for Bite the Bullet

The second theory  has the expression deriving from the bullet patients (usually cowboys in films) had to bite the bullet to mentally alleviate pain when operated on without an anesthetic.  Which brings to mind the whiskey they always downed to cut the pain.  I guess you could say that ‘biting the bullet’ was a John Wayne anesthetic. 

Then again, if the person  wasn’t biting the bullet, he/she might ‘bite the dust’.  This term, ‘bite the dust’ comes from an almost literal translation of line found in Homer’s Iliad.  American poet, William Cullen Bryant translated the words in 1870: 

“…his fellow warriors, many a one, Fall round him to the earth and bite the dust.” 

Earlier, Alexander Pope had translated the phrase as “bite the bloody sand” (sounds very English) and English poet William Cowper had it, literally, as “bite the ground.”  The idea remains the same in any case:  a man falling dead in combat, ‘biting the dust’ in his last hostile, futile act.

taken from the Henry Holt Encyclopedia of Word and Phrase Origins

Put the two phrases together and it sounds like a wife telling a husband to get in for a physical…pronto!  What do you think?