What Does` Take The Bull By The Horns` Mean?

The words "take the bull by the horns" are an idiom or a phrase. They are used as a metaphor to imply that some problem or issue has to be faced head on. The most dangerous part of a bull is of course its horns and any horned animal hates to be handled by its horns, it immediately turns hostile. The phrase is probably from the sphere of rodeos or bullfighting where bulls are taunted by matadors by grasping their horns and pressing their heads down. In a literal sense it implies tackling a problem straight and not skirting the issue. The bull in the phrase is meant to imply that the problem is of considerable magnitude.

An example of its use, "This time the administration had had enough, they were going to take the bull by the horns and confront the trade unions".