Dictionary

tremble and obey en · VERB

Etymology

Calque from Chinese 凜遵／凛遵 (lǐn zūn), a phrase historically used in Chinese imperial edicts.

Meanings

1. (China, idiomatic) To unthinkingly obey or pander to authorities, especially the Chinese government.
   • Never “tremble and obey” if doing so will damage or destroy your business in China. 2005, James McGregor, One Billion Customers: Lessons from the Front Lines of Doing Business in China, page 153:
   • The ordinary voter ... feels himself their humble subject, whose duty is, as the Chinese used to say, to “tremble and obey”. 1949, Bertrand Russell, Authority and the Individual:
   • ... the previous colonial government and the current tremble-and-obey government have helped foster the myth of a historically politically apathetic and selfish society ... 2017, Stephen Vines, “Those who think the Umbrella Movement failed need to learn a little history”, in Hong Kong Free Press:
2. (China, historical) Phrase promulgating a decree of the Chinese imperial government or the early British colonial administration in Hong Kong.
   • Let the good tremble and obey; let them not act so as to have hereafter to repent. A special Proclamation. 1857, Thomas Wade, “Translation of a Paper forwarded by His Excellency the Governor of Macao”, in J. C. Parkinson, editor, Government Examinations, page 124:

Forms

Translations (2)

fi totella kyselemättä (to unthinkingly obey or pander to authorities) · pl drżeć i słuchać się (to unthinkingly obey or pander to authorities)