Dictionary

bend the knee en · VERB

Pronunciation

• (Australia) audio

Etymology

Calque of Latin genūflectō. Popularized by its use on the television series Game of Thrones (2011-2019).

Meanings

1. (idiomatic) To swear fealty or allegiance to another person.
   • Joffrey, Renly, Robb Stark: they're all thieves. They'll bend the knee or I'll destroy them. 2012, David Benioff, D. B. Weiss, “The North Remembers”, in Game of Thrones, season 2, episode 1, spoken by Stannis Baratheon (Stephen Dillane):
   • The timid among them declared that he would burn the houses and hang all that had bent the knee to King Louis. 1905, Max Pemberton, The Hundred Days, page 137:
   • 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. 2001, Cynthia Voigt, Elske, page 129:
2. (idiomatic) To submit to or show reverence toward a divine power.
   • For one thing, Christians refused to bend the knee to anyone but God, certainly not to Caesar. 2006, James W. White, Christianity 101: Tracing Basic Beliefs, page 55:
   • 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. 1928 January, Ernest C. Wilson, “A King and a Kingdom That Limped”, in Youth, volume 2, number 1, page 13:
   • 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. 2001, Beth Moore, Living Free: Learning to Pray God's Word, page 86:
3. (broadly, idiomatic) To show undue deference, obedience, or support for someone or something.
   • Kafka had bent the knee to his father’s desires and taken a job in an insurance office. 2016, Stuart Jeffries, Grand Hotel Abyss: The Lives of the Frankfurt School, page 166:
   • Some thought we had in Mr. [Abraham] 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. 1861 April, Frederick Douglass, “The Inaugural Address”, in Douglass' Monthly, volume III, number XI, page 434:
   • But there's something more sinister in the need for companies to bend the knee to Washington politicians. 2013, Gary Shapiro, Ninja Innovation: The Ten Killer Strategies of the World's Most Successful Businesses, page 117:

Forms

Translations (12)

cmn 卑躬屈膝 (submit to another's authority) · la genūflectō (submit to another's authority) · ca ajupir-se (submit to another's authority) · cmn 順從 /顺从 (submit to another's authority) · fr se soumettre (submit to another's authority) · sv böja knä (submit to another's authority) · pl iść na pasku (submit to another's authority) · grc γόνυ κάμπτω (submit to another's authority) · fi polvistua (submit to another's authority) · ja 膝を屈する (submit to another's authority) · fr courber l'échine (submit to another's authority) · ca agemolir-se (submit to another's authority)

wikipedia: Game of Thrones