bit between one's teeth

English

Noun

bit between one's teeth

1. Complete control of a situation; a stance that cannot be controlled or restrained by anyone else.
   • 1903, Samuel Butler, The Way of All Flesh:

     If he was to get the bit between his teeth after he had got ordained and bought his living, he would play more pranks than ever he, Theobald, had done.

   • 1991, Stephen Kirby, Nick Hooper, The Cost of Peace: Assessing Europe's Security Options, →ISBN, page 11:

     Unruly clients might take the bit between their teeth and threaten to drag their patron into the fray.

   • 2012, David Weber, Midst Toil and Tribulation, →ISBN:

     Rebkah Rahskail probably wasn't, and neither was her cousin, Dragon Hill, but they might find themselves pulled into an adventure if the others got the bit between their teeth.

   • 2014, Anthony Trollope, Helen Small, The Last Chronicle of Barset: The Chronicles of Barsetshire, →ISBN:

     As for taking the bit between his teeth, Sir Raffle, I do not think that any man was ever more obedient, perhaps I should say more submissive, than I have been. But there must be a limit to everything.'

2. A large degree of focus and commitment to a task.
   • 1991, Roy Medvedev, Giulietto Chiesa, Time of Change: An Insider's View of Russia's Transformation, →ISBN, page 13:

     The upheaval in the creative unions seems to have gone further than expected and the forces for renewal took the bit between their teeth — to such an extent that the writers' congress in June of the same year would follow more staid formulas and attempt more of a compromise between the old and the new, as compared to the Fifth Congress of the Filmmakers' Union in May, where the old guard of film directors had been eliminated (Lev Kulidshanov, Vladimir Naumov, and Sergei Bondarchuk).

   • 2010, Helen Grant, The Glass Demon, →ISBN:

     When my father had the bit between his teeth he would work all day and half the night, barely stopping to eat, snapping at anyone who interrupted him.

   • 2015, Martin van Creveld, Moshe Dayan, →ISBN:

     Soon, however, he took the bit between his teeth and wrote and wrote. Work was therapy; by the time the memoirs were published he had recovered his self-confidence.

3. Used other than figuratively or idiomatically: see bit,‎ between,‎ teeth.
   • 2004, Maurice Cotterell, The Terracotta Warriors: The Secret Codes of the Emperor's Army, →ISBN:

     Some fellow British travellers at Xian, who own horses and therefore understand equine tack, pointed out — when I asked about the authenticity of the replicas — that the horses could not possibly have coped with the bit between their teeth (as they were shown) for long.

   • 2009, Geoffrey Homes, No Hands on the Clock, →ISBN, page 123:

     His eyebrows drew together, his hand found his pipe. He put the bit between his teeth and then he could think better, could think almost as well as when he had the strap of his accordion on his shoulder and his hands on the keys.

Usage notes

• Most often used in a phrase such as to take the bit between one's teeth, to get the bit between one's teeth, or to have the bit between one's teeth.
• Other forms may occur without between, e.g. take the bit in one's teeth.

See also

• bite the bullet
• grit one's teeth
• hold the reins
• take the bull by the horns