belly up to the bar
Verb
  1. (chiefly, US, idiomatic) To commit oneself to a challenge or task; to accept a responsibility; to acknowledge a fact.
    • 1991 June 2, "If Delta's Going To Make A Move, 'It's Now Or Never' ↗," Businessweek (retrieved 5 April 2015):
      Allen declines to discuss acquisition plans. . . . Nonetheless, W. Whitley Hawkins, whom Allen recently promoted to president from executive vice-president for marketing, asks the question out loud: "Are we going to belly up to the bar? All Pan Am assets for sale have some appeal to us."
    • 2005 March 4, Rebecca Leung, "CIA Flying Suspects to Torture? ↗," CBS News (retrieved 25 March 2015):
      "[T]he congressional committees aren't gonna belly up to the bar and say, 'We authorized this,'" says Scheuer.
    • 2008 April 25, Mark Leibovich, "Black Leader in the House Sharply Criticizes Bill Clinton ↗," New York Times (retrieved 5 April 2015):
      “When he was going through his impeachment problems, it was the black community that bellied up to the bar,” Mr. Clyburn said.
    • 2014 Dec. 14, Deirdre Shesgreen, "Boehner, McConnell face big to-do list in next Congress ↗," USA Today (retrieved 25 March 2015):
      "They're going to have to belly up to the bar and take up these difficult issues," said G. William Hoagland, who served as director of budget and appropriations.
Synonyms


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