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

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

I told His Royal Highness I should put on my most becoming Paris bonnet and beard the lion in his den.

From Letters of a Diplomat's Wife 1883-1900 by Waddington, Mary King

While Dutch William lives, or at all events is at liberty, King James will not move from his present position, and even the King of France cannot beard the lion in his den.

From John Deane of Nottingham Historic Adventures by Land and Sea by Kingston, William Henry Giles

I'd as soon beard the lion in his den as Aunt Cindy in her kitchen.

From The Little Colonel's Christmas Vacation by Barry, Etheldred B. (Etheldred Breeze)

It would be excellent if James V. or the Irish would undertake to beard the lion in his den, but the Emperor did not see his way clear to accepting the risk himself.

From Henry VIII. by Pollard, A. F. (Albert Frederick)