take time by the forelock

present singular third person takes time by the forelock · participle present taking time by the forelock · past took time by the forelock · participle past taken time by the forelock

1. idiomaticimperativeoftenTo seize an opportunity quickly before it is no longer available.

   Tell her the ioyous time wil not be staid, / Unlesse she doe him by the forelock take;

   1595, Edmund Spenser, Amoretti, Sonnet 70

   2 more examples

   […] I knew a Parson's Wife that seldom went to Church, but took Time by the Forelock, and while the Husband (good Man) was taking Care of his Flock, the good Woman at Home was at her Occupation with her Gallant, a rich young Farmer.

   1726, William Rufus Chetwood, The Voyages and Adventures of Captain Robert Boyle, London: Andrew Millar, published 1728, pages 5–6

   Miss Walters, dreading the Christmas rush on the railway, had determined to take time by the forelock, and meant to pack off her pupils by the first available trains, trusting they would most of them reach their destinations before the overcrowding became a serious problem in the traffic.

   1920, Angela Brazil, chapter I, in The Princess of the School, New York: A.L. Burt, published 1921, page 1

   Synonyms: make hay while the sun shines, strike while the iron is hot