Word: bullet Part of Speech: noun Etymology: From Middle English bullet (“an official tag or badge of registration or identification”), from Old French bullete, diminutive of boule (“ball”). Later influenced by Middle French boulette and French boulet. Pronunciation: /ˈbʊlɪt/, /ˈbɵlɪt/, /ˈbʊlət/, /ˈbʉlɪt/ 1. A projectile, usually of metal, shot from a gun at high speed. Labels: countable, uncountable 2. An entire round of unfired ammunition for a firearm, including the projectile, the cartridge casing, the propellant charge, etc. Labels: countable, informal, uncountable 3. Ammunition for a sling or slingshot which has been manufactured for such use. Labels: countable, uncountable Example: Then when our powers in points of ſwords are ioin’d / And cloſde in compaſſe of the killing bullet, / Though ſtraite the paſſage and the port be made, / That leads to Pallace of my brothers life, / Proud is his fortune if we pierce it not. 4. A printed symbol in the form of a solid circle ⟨•⟩, often used to mark items in a list. Labels: countable, uncountable 5. A large scheduled repayment of the principal of a loan; a balloon payment. Labels: countable, uncountable 6. A rejection letter, as for employment, admission to a school or a competition. Labels: countable, uncountable Example: John's not going to any of his top schools; he got a bullet from the last of them yesterday. 7. One year of prison time. Labels: countable, slang, uncountable Example: G.T.A. I got sentenced to a bullet, did six months at fire camp and got a modification. 8. An ace (the playing card). Labels: countable, slang, uncountable Example: The miser, a-seeking lost gelt, / The doughboy, awaiting the battle, / May possibly know how I felt / While the long years dragged by as the dealer / As slow as the slowest of dubs, / Stuck out the last helping of tickets / 'Till I lifted—the Bullet of Clubs! 9. Anything that is projected extremely fast. Labels: countable, figuratively, uncountable Example: 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. Very fast (speedy). Labels: attributive, countable, uncountable Example: bullet train Example: bullet chess 11. Ellipsis of bullet chess. Labels: abbreviation, alt-of, ellipsis, uncountable Example: Nakamura is a different animal at 15-minute rapid and five-minute blitz and even more so at one-minute bullet, and in this match he adopted a psychological approach which paid off brilliantly. Example: Carlsen also has been engaging in online marathons of "bullet chess," exactly the kind of attention-disrupting, energy-draining stunt contenders are supposed to avoid. In a bullet game, each player has only one minute for all the moves. The pace is so rapid the games are hard to watch, much less play. 12. A plumb or sinker. Labels: countable, uncountable 13. The heavy projectile thrown in a game of road bowling. Labels: Ireland, countable, uncountable 14. A roughly bullet-shaped sweet consisting of a cylinder of liquorice covered in chocolate. Labels: Australia, countable, uncountable 15. A small ball. Labels: countable, obsolete, uncountable Example: 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? 16. A cannonball. Labels: countable, obsolete, uncountable Example: A ship before Greenwich […] shot off her ordinance, one piece being charged with a bullet of stone. 17. The fetlock of a horse. Labels: countable, obsolete, uncountable 18. The best workout time at a track on a given day at a specific distance, traditionally marked by a printer's bullet. Labels: Canada, US, countable, uncountable 19. A notation used on pop music charts to indicate that a song is climbing in the rankings. Labels: countable, uncountable Example: I'm eighteen with a bullet / Got my finger on the trigger, I'm gonna pull it / […] / I'm high on the chart / I'm tip for the top Example: Her third release hit number one in record time — “number one with a bullet” as they said in the industry — and after that, there seemed to be no stopping her. 20. Ellipsis of bullet vibrator. Labels: abbreviation, alt-of, countable, ellipsis, uncountable