bend the knee

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English

Etymology

From the medieval European practice of genuflecting to show respect for a superior. Popularized by its use on the television series Game of Thrones (2011-2019).

Pronunciation

Verb

bend the knee (third-person singular simple present bends the knee, present participle bending the knee, simple past and past participle bent the knee)

  1. (idiomatic) To swear fealty or allegiance to another person.
    • 1905, Max Pemberton, The Hundred Days‎, page 137:
      The timid among them declared that he would burn the houses and hang all that had bent the knee to King Louis.
    • 2001, Cynthia Voigt, Elske‎, page 129:
      The Earls have power over their lands and people, but must bend the knee to the King and serve as his vassals, just as their own vassals bend the knee to them, and serve them.
    • 2012, David Benioff, D. B. Weiss, “The North Remembers”, in Game of Thrones, season 2, episode 1, spoken by Stannis Baratheon (Stephen Dillane):
      Joffrey, Renly, Robb Stark: they're all thieves. They'll bend the knee or I'll destroy them.
    • For more quotations using this term, see Citations:bend the knee.
  2. (idiomatic) To submit to or show reverence toward a divine power.
    • 1928 January, Ernest C. Wilson, “A King and a Kingdom That Limped”, in Youth‎, volume 2, number 1, page 13:
      Jezebel, though she bent the knee to Baal, was pleasing in Ahab’s sight; and he saw that her father’s army, though deplorably pagan, wielded heavy swords.
    • 2001, Beth Moore, Living Free: Learning to Pray God's Word‎, page 86:
      We will realize that in our weakness He is strong and that as we bend the knee to His lordship, God is more than able to deliver us.
    • 2006, James W. White, Christianity 101: Tracing Basic Beliefs‎, page 55:
      For one thing, Christians refused to bend the knee to anyone but God, certainly not to Caesar.
    • For more quotations using this term, see Citations:bend the knee.
  3. (idiomatic, by extension) To show undue deference, obedience, or support for someone or something.
    • 1861 April, Frederick Douglass, “The Inaugural Address”, in Douglass' Monthly‎, volume III, number XI, page 434:
      Some thought we had in Mr. Lincoln the nerve and decision of an Oliver Cromwell; but the result shows that we merely have a continuation of the Pierces and Buchanans, and that the Republican President bends the knee to slavery as readily as any of his infamous predecessors.
    • 2013, Gary Shapiro, Ninja Innovation: The Ten Killer Strategies of the World's Most Successful Businesses‎, page 117:
      But there's something more sinister in the need for companies to bend the knee to Washington politicians.
    • 2016, Stuart Jeffries, Grand Hotel Abyss: The Lives of the Frankfurt School‎, page 166:
      Kafka had bent the knee to his father’s desires and taken a job in an insurance office.
    • For more quotations using this term, see Citations:bend the knee.

Translations

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