А-2

БРАТЬ/ВЗЯТЬ НА АБОРДАЖ кого-что VP subj; human obj; most often human

to take decisive action with s.o. or sth. :

X взял Y-a на абордаж = X took (tried) a hard-nosed approach with person Y

X got tough with person Y

X tackled thing Y head-on.

From the French abordage. Originally meant "to attack an enemy vessel by coming alongside it and mooring with it for the purpose of hand-to-hand combat."