take time by the forelock

1. 1.

   act quickly and decisively; not let slip an opportunity

   Broaderact

Questions about take time by the forelock

What does take time by the forelock mean?

take time by the forelock means "act quickly and decisively; not let slip an opportunity".

Is take time by the forelock a common word?

take time by the forelock is banded "Rare" — specialist or archaic — most readers will not have met it. The band comes from how often the word appears in a large corpus of everyday English, not from an editor's impression.