"take time by the forelock" meaning in All languages combined

See take time by the forelock on Wiktionary

Verb [English]

Forms: takes time by the forelock [present, singular, third-person], taking time by the forelock [participle, present], took time by the forelock [past], taken time by the forelock [participle, past]
Head templates: {{en-verb|take<,,took,taken> time by the forelock}} 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, often imperative) To seize an opportunity quickly before it is no longer available. Tags: idiomatic, imperative, often Synonyms: make hay while the sun shines, strike while the iron is hot
    Sense id: en-take_time_by_the_forelock-en-verb-2uxkQzMK Categories (other): English entries with incorrect language header, English imperative sentences, Pages with 1 entry, Pages with entries
{
  "forms": [
    {
      "form": "takes time by the forelock",
      "tags": [
        "present",
        "singular",
        "third-person"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "taking time by the forelock",
      "tags": [
        "participle",
        "present"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "took time by the forelock",
      "tags": [
        "past"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "taken time by the forelock",
      "tags": [
        "participle",
        "past"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "head_templates": [
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "take<,,took,taken> time by the forelock"
      },
      "expansion": "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)",
      "name": "en-verb"
    }
  ],
  "lang": "English",
  "lang_code": "en",
  "pos": "verb",
  "senses": [
    {
      "categories": [
        {
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "English entries with incorrect language header",
          "parents": [
            "Entries with incorrect language header",
            "Entry maintenance"
          ],
          "source": "w"
        },
        {
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "English imperative sentences",
          "parents": [
            "Imperative sentences",
            "Sentences"
          ],
          "source": "w"
        },
        {
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "Pages with 1 entry",
          "parents": [],
          "source": "w"
        },
        {
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "Pages with entries",
          "parents": [],
          "source": "w"
        }
      ],
      "examples": [
        {
          "ref": "1595, Edmund Spenser, Amoretti, Sonnet 70:",
          "text": "Tell her the ioyous time wil not be staid, / Unlesse she doe him by the forelock take;",
          "type": "quote"
        },
        {
          "ref": "1726, William Rufus Chetwood, The Voyages and Adventures of Captain Robert Boyle, London: Andrew Millar, published 1728, pages 5–6:",
          "text": "[…] 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.",
          "type": "quote"
        },
        {
          "ref": "1920, Angela Brazil, chapter I, in The Princess of the School, New York: A.L. Burt, published 1921, page 1:",
          "text": "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.",
          "type": "quote"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "To seize an opportunity quickly before it is no longer available."
      ],
      "id": "en-take_time_by_the_forelock-en-verb-2uxkQzMK",
      "links": [
        [
          "seize",
          "seize"
        ],
        [
          "opportunity",
          "opportunity"
        ],
        [
          "available",
          "available"
        ]
      ],
      "raw_glosses": [
        "(idiomatic, often imperative) To seize an opportunity quickly before it is no longer available."
      ],
      "synonyms": [
        {
          "word": "make hay while the sun shines"
        },
        {
          "word": "strike while the iron is hot"
        }
      ],
      "tags": [
        "idiomatic",
        "imperative",
        "often"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "word": "take time by the forelock"
}
{
  "forms": [
    {
      "form": "takes time by the forelock",
      "tags": [
        "present",
        "singular",
        "third-person"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "taking time by the forelock",
      "tags": [
        "participle",
        "present"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "took time by the forelock",
      "tags": [
        "past"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "taken time by the forelock",
      "tags": [
        "participle",
        "past"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "head_templates": [
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "take<,,took,taken> time by the forelock"
      },
      "expansion": "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)",
      "name": "en-verb"
    }
  ],
  "lang": "English",
  "lang_code": "en",
  "pos": "verb",
  "senses": [
    {
      "categories": [
        "English entries with incorrect language header",
        "English idioms",
        "English imperative sentences",
        "English lemmas",
        "English multiword terms",
        "English terms with quotations",
        "English verbs",
        "Pages with 1 entry",
        "Pages with entries",
        "Quotation templates to be cleaned"
      ],
      "examples": [
        {
          "ref": "1595, Edmund Spenser, Amoretti, Sonnet 70:",
          "text": "Tell her the ioyous time wil not be staid, / Unlesse she doe him by the forelock take;",
          "type": "quote"
        },
        {
          "ref": "1726, William Rufus Chetwood, The Voyages and Adventures of Captain Robert Boyle, London: Andrew Millar, published 1728, pages 5–6:",
          "text": "[…] 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.",
          "type": "quote"
        },
        {
          "ref": "1920, Angela Brazil, chapter I, in The Princess of the School, New York: A.L. Burt, published 1921, page 1:",
          "text": "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.",
          "type": "quote"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "To seize an opportunity quickly before it is no longer available."
      ],
      "links": [
        [
          "seize",
          "seize"
        ],
        [
          "opportunity",
          "opportunity"
        ],
        [
          "available",
          "available"
        ]
      ],
      "raw_glosses": [
        "(idiomatic, often imperative) To seize an opportunity quickly before it is no longer available."
      ],
      "tags": [
        "idiomatic",
        "imperative",
        "often"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "synonyms": [
    {
      "word": "make hay while the sun shines"
    },
    {
      "word": "strike while the iron is hot"
    }
  ],
  "word": "take time by the forelock"
}

Download raw JSONL data for take time by the forelock meaning in All languages combined (2.4kB)


This page is a part of the kaikki.org machine-readable All languages combined dictionary. This dictionary is based on structured data extracted on 2024-11-28 from the enwiktionary dump dated 2024-11-21 using wiktextract (65a6e81 and 0dbea76). The data shown on this site has been post-processed and various details (e.g., extra categories) removed, some information disambiguated, and additional data merged from other sources. See the raw data download page for the unprocessed wiktextract data.

If you use this data in academic research, please cite Tatu Ylonen: Wiktextract: Wiktionary as Machine-Readable Structured Data, Proceedings of the 13th Conference on Language Resources and Evaluation (LREC), pp. 1317-1325, Marseille, 20-25 June 2022. Linking to the relevant page(s) under https://kaikki.org would also be greatly appreciated.