Word.ws English Dictionary

grabbing the bull by the horns

grabbing the bull by the horns is the present participle and gerund of grab the bull by the horns.

Meaning of grab the bull by the horns

Verb

grab the bull by the horns (third-person singular simple present grabs the bull by the horns, present participle grabbing the bull by the horns, simple past and past participle grabbed the bull by the horns)

  1. (idiomatic) Synonym of take the bull by the horns.
    • “I felt I’d go out and grab the bull by the horns and give it a good lash and I’m very pleased to come away with second in my very first Diamond League final.”2022 September 9, Cathal Dennehy, “Ciara Mageean shines in Diamond League to claim second”, in Irish Examiner

Questions about grabbing the bull by the horns

What is grabbing the bull by the horns the present participle and gerund of?
Grabbing the bull by the horns is the present participle and gerund of grab the bull by the horns.

Words near grabbing the bull by the horns in the dictionary

  1. grabbing off
  2. grabbing one's ankles
  3. grabbing some air
  4. grabbing some z's
  5. grabbing some Zs
  6. grabbing the bull by the horns
  7. grabbing the headlines
  8. grabbing the popcorn
  9. grabbingly
  10. grabbings
  11. grabble

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: grabbing the bull by the horns (page history and authors); grab the bull by the horns (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

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