beard the lion

Idioms  

1. Confront a danger, take a risk, as in I went straight to my boss, bearding the lion. This term was originally a Latin proverb based on a Bible story (I Samuel 17:35) about the shepherd David, who pursued a lion that had stolen a lamb, caught it by its beard, and killed it. By Shakespeare's time it was being used figuratively, as it is today. Sometimes the term is amplified to beard the lion in his den, which may combine the allusion with another Bible story, that of Daniel being shut in a lions' den for the night (Daniel 6:16–24).

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Example Sentences

See Examples For:

beard the lion

The topic courage, for instance, involved for him everything from audacity to spunk, Perseus to gamecock, to "beard the lion in his den."

From Time Magazine Archive

But it must not be inferred, as many English writers have done, that this confidence was due to a mistaken view of the Germans' pluck, or their reluctance to beard the "lion" in his den.

From An Englishman in Paris Notes and Recollections by Albert D.

"We must not attempt to beard the lion in his den."

From Breaking Away or The Fortunes of a Student by Kilburn

Francos: Mine ears are open to thine every word, Would that they could but hear in distant Isles; For when I beard the lion in his den, Thy potent thoughts were then a healing balm.

From 'A Comedy of Errors' in Seven Acts by Spokeshave (AKA Old Fogy)

Monson had now alone to beard the lion in his den.

From The Sea: Its Stirring Story of Adventure, Peril, & Heroism. Volume 2 by Frederick Whymper