Making text in {braces} of an \item appear bold

Question

Is it possible to redefine \item to have the text in braces appear bold?

\documentclass{article}
\begin{document}

\begin{itemize}
  \item{Paper}: a white substance used for writing symbols.
  \item{Pencil}: a tool for writing symbols on a paper
\end{itemize}

\end{document}

I'd like to have the following output:

• Paper: a white substance used for writing symbols
• Pencil: a tool for writing symbols on a paper

I intend to place this in a template. Note that this is not used a glossary; rather, it is used for short overview of a variety of items that may, were the text a bit more extended, deserve a subsection, except each item is too short to deserve a subsection.

Answer 1

If you want to stick to using a {} and also want the bullets from itemized lists you could use \MyItem instead as defined below:

Alternatively you could define a customized MyItemize environment in which you redefine \item to do this, but I would recommend using \MyItem instead.

Code:

\documentclass{article}

\newcommand{\MyItem}[1]{\item \textbf{#1}}%
\begin{document}
\begin{itemize}
  \MyItem{Paper}: a white substance used for writing symbols.
  \MyItem{Pencil}: a tool for writing symbols on a paper
\end{itemize}

\end{document}

Answer 2

Thanks, StackExchange's "Related" section that appeared after I posted the question!

I should actually be using the description environment and brackets instead of braces. Then I'll get the exact behavior I want.

\documentclass{article}
\begin{document}

\begin{description}
  \item[Paper] a white substance used for writing symbols.
  \item[Pencil] a tool for writing symbols on a paper
\end{description}

\end{document}