Bullet

Pronunciation

• UK IPA: /bÊŠl.ɪt/
• Rhymes: -ÊŠlɪt

Origin

From Middle French boulette.

Full definition of bullet

Noun

1. A projectile, usually of metal, shot from a gun at high speed.
2. Ammunition for a sling or slingshot which has been manufactured for such use.
3. (typography) A printed symbol in the form of a solid circle, (•), often used for marking items in a list. (see also bulleted)
4. (informal) An entire round of unfired ammunition for a firearm, including the projectile, the cartridge casing, the propellant charge, etc.
5. (banking, finance) A large scheduled repayment of the principal of a loan; a balloon payment.
6. A rejection letter, as for employment, admission to a school or a competition.John's not going to any of his top schools; he got a bullet from the last of them yesterday.
7. (slang) One year of prison time
8. (slang) An ace (the playing card).
9. (figuratively) Anything that is projected extremely fast.
• 2011, January 19, Jonathan Stevenson, Leeds 1 - 3 Arsenal, Just as it appeared Arsenal had taken the sting out of the tie, Johnson produced a moment of outrageous quality, thundering a bullet of a left foot shot out of the blue and into the top left-hand corner of Wojciech Szczesny's net with the Pole grasping at thin air.
10. (in attributive use) Very fast (speedy).bullet trainbullet chess
11. (obsolete) A small ball.
• 1881, , :Would you not suppose these persons had been whispered, by the Master of the Ceremonies, the promise of some momentous destiny? and that this lukewarm bullet on which they play their farces was the bull's-eye and centrepoint of all the universe?
12. (obsolete) A cannonball.
• StowA ship before Greenwich ... shot off her ordnance, one piece being charged with a bullet of stone.
13. (obsolete) The fetlock of a horse.

Derived terms

Verb

1. (transitive, informal) To draw attention to (text) by, or as if by, placing a graphic bullet in front of it.
• 2000, Merriam-Webster, Inc, Merriam-Webster's collegiate encyclopedia‎, For instance, in the article on Tim Berners-Lee, we have bulleted "World Wide Web"
• 2004, Richard P. Pohanish, HazMat data: for first response, transportation, storage, and security‎, The author has bulleted this section to make it easier to read and included important notes and warnings.
• 2008, Deanna Davis, The law of attraction in action, I had mind-mapped everything from my business to my baby girl's needs and had bulleted my talking points, brownie points, and breaking points for just about every life area
2. (intransitive, informal) To speed, like a bullet.Their debut started slow, but bulleted to number six in its fourth week.
3. (transitive, informal) To make a shot, especially with great speed.He bulleted a header for his first score of the season.