Word.ws English Dictionary

taken time by the forelock

taken time by the forelock is the past participle of take time by the forelock.

Meaning of take time by the forelock

Verb

take time by the forelock (third-person singular simple present takes time by the forelock, present participle taking time by the forelock, simple past took time by the forelock, past participle taken time by the forelock)

  1. (idiomatic, imperative, often) To 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

Questions about taken time by the forelock

What is taken time by the forelock the past participle of?
Taken time by the forelock is the past participle of take time by the forelock.

Words near taken time by the forelock in the dictionary

  1. taken the wheel
  2. taken the wind out of someone's sails
  3. taken the words out of someone's mouth
  4. taken the wrong turn at Albuquerque
  5. taken time
  6. taken time by the forelock
  7. taken time off
  8. taken time out
  9. taken to
  10. taken to court
  11. taken to drink

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: taken time by the forelock (page history and authors); take time by the forelock (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.

Last updated:

Cite this entry: “taken time by the forelock.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/taken_time_by_the_forelock. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.