A bullet is a projectile propelled by a firearm, sling, or air gun. Bullets do not normally contain explosives, but damage the intended target by impact and penetration. The word "bullet" is sometimes colloquially used to refer to ammunition in general, or to a cartridge, which is a combination of the bullet, case/shell, powder, and primer. This incorrect use of 'bullet' when 'cartridge' is intended, leads to confusion when the components of a cartridge are discussed or intended. See the reference section for more detail.
Read more about Bullet: History, Design, Propulsion, Materials, Treaties and Prohibitions, Bullet Abbreviations, Figurative Uses
Famous quotes containing the word bullet:
“Literary gentlemen, editors, and critics think that they know how to write, because they have studied grammar and rhetoric; but they are egregiously mistaken. The art of composition is as simple as the discharge of a bullet from a rifle, and its masterpieces imply an infinitely greater force behind them.”
—Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862)
“Rude poets of the tavern hearth,
squandering your unquoted mirth,
which keeps the ground, and never soars,
while jake retorts, and reuben roars;
tough and screaming, as birch-bark,
goes like bullet to its mark;
while the solid curse and jeer
never balk the waiting ear.”
—Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803–1882)
“It’s not the bullet with my name on it that worries me. It’s the one that says “To whom it may concern.””
—Anonymous Belfast Resident. quoted in Guardian (London, Oct. 16, 1991)