baptism of fire

One’s first encounter with a severe ordeal or painful expe- rience. The term is believed to come from the death of martyrs, especially those who were burned at the stake. In the nineteenth century it acquired a more specific meaning in France, that is, the experience of a soldier’s first battle. It was so used by Napoleon III in a letter describing his son’s initiation into combat. Later it was extended to mean any initial encounter with a diffi- cult situation—as, for example, one’s first job interview.