grit one's teeth

Verb

grit one's teeth (third-person singular simple present grits one's teeth, present participle gritting one's teeth, simple past and past participle gritted one's teeth or (nonstandard) grit one's teeth)

1. To clench one's teeth together tightly because of pain, anger, frustration, or self-assurance.
   • [Shield Knight] LOOKED WITH DREAD THROUGH THE EYES OF THE ENCHANTRESS. SHE WAS TRAPPED AGAIN! SHIELD KNIGHT GRIT HER TEETH. SHOVEL KNIGHT WOULDN'T GIVE UP, AND NEITHER WOULD SHE.2019 December 10, Yacht Club Games, "Story" (Shield Knight), in Shovel Knight Showdown (version 4.1), Nintendo Switch, scene: ending
2. (idiomatic) To face up to a difficult or disagreeable situation and deal with it.
   • There's a storm coming, so I grit my teeth and start rowing with all my might.
   • Japan's revolutionary New Tokaido Line, the 310-mile, 150 m.p.h. route between Tokyo and Osaka that is due to open for passenger traffic in October, has run into the same kind of budgetary trouble that held up our own LMR electrification, though the Japanese Government, unlike our own, has...1964 July, “Tokaido line trouble”, in Modern Railways, page 52

   Synonyms:

   face up to, bite the bullet, grin and bear it, suck it up