"take time by the forelock" meaning in English

{
  "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 language name categories using raw markup",
          "parents": [
            "Entries with language name categories using raw markup",
            "Entry maintenance"
          ],
          "source": "w"
        },
        {
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "English imperatives",
          "parents": [],
          "source": "w"
        },
        {
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "English terms with non-redundant non-automated sortkeys",
          "parents": [
            "Terms with non-redundant non-automated sortkeys",
            "Entry maintenance"
          ],
          "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": "quotation"
        },
        {
          "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": "quotation"
        },
        {
          "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": "quotation"
        }
      ],
      "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 language name categories using raw markup",
        "English idioms",
        "English imperatives",
        "English lemmas",
        "English multiword terms",
        "English terms with non-redundant non-automated sortkeys",
        "English terms with quotations",
        "English verbs",
        "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": "quotation"
        },
        {
          "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": "quotation"
        },
        {
          "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": "quotation"
        }
      ],
      "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"
}