take the bull by the horns

1. Take the initiative in confronting a difficult position: “You'll never decide what you want in life by just thinking about it; you must take the bull by the horns and try out a few possibilities.”

Idioms and Phrases

Confront a problem head-on, as in We'll have to take the bull by the horns and tackle the Medicare question . This term most likely alludes to grasping a safely tethered bull, not one the matador is fighting in the ring. [c. 1800]

Related Words

• allow
• challenge
• confront
• deal with
• encounter
• endure
• experience
• fight
• meet
• oppose
• risk
• run into
• suffer
• take