Quote:
I think what's probly meant here is something like, "seize time by the forelock." (see Google[books] for examples.)


this is pretty interesting..

according to OED, time[25] Personified as an aged man, bald, but having a forelock, and carrying a scythe and an hour-glass. Also called Father Time. to take Time by the forelock (†by the top), to seize one's opportunity, to act promptly

1595 Spenser Amoretti "The joyous time wil not be staid Unlesse she doe him by the forelock take.."

1775 J. Adair Hist. Amer. Indians I took time by the fore-lock.

a common expression of old, then, twisted by Alcott (and followed by others)

""It was hard work, but between us, we talked her over, for we had heaps of good reasons on our side. There wasn't time to write and ask leave, but you all liked it, had consented to it by-and-by, and it was only `taking time by the fetlock', as my wife says.""
- L. M. Alcott, Little Women (1868)

"'Take time by the fetlock,' as one of the girls says in 'Little Women,'" laughed Roger. "If you'll cast your orbs out of the window you'll see that it has almost stopped."
- Mabell S.C. Smith, Ethel Morton's Enterprise (2004)