bear the brunt
bear the brunt (of something)
To suffer the worst part of an unpleasant or problematic situation. When our system crashed, the call center employees bore the brunt of our customers' anger. Because I came home late, my sister bore the brunt of our mother's frustration about her job.
See also: bear, brunt
Farlex Dictionary of Idioms.
bear the brunt (of something)
to withstand the worst part or the strongest part of something, such as an attack. I had to bear the brunt of her screaming and yelling. Why don't you talk with her the next time she complains? I'm tired of bearing the brunt of her objections.
See also: bear, brunt
McGraw-Hill Dictionary of American Idioms and Phrasal Verbs.
bear the brunt
Put up with the worst of some bad circumstance, as in It was the secretary who had to bear the brunt of the doctor's anger. This idiom uses brunt in the sense of "the main force of an enemy's attack," which was sustained by the front lines of the defenders. [Second half of 1700s]
See also: bear, brunt
The American Heritage® Dictionary of Idioms by Christine Ammer.
bear the brunt, to
To put up with the worst of any hardship, violence, or other misfortune. The term dates from the early fifteenth century, when brunt signified the main force of an enemy’s assault, which was borne by the front ranks of an army aligned in the field of battle. It was used by John Lydgate in his Chronicle of Troy (1430) and later began to be used figuratively, as by Robert Browning in “Prospice” (1864): “. . . fare like my peers, The heroes of old, Bear the brunt . . . of pain, darkness and cold.”
See also: bear
The Dictionary of Clichés by Christine Ammer
- bear the brunt (of something)
- bear the brunt of
- bear the brunt of something
- brunt
- take the brunt of (something)
- mixed up in (something)
- bear the brunt, to
- mix (one) up in (something)
- mix up in
- mixe