bend the knee
Proposed by a contributor, not yet supported by evidence.
Meaning · English
To show respect or submit to someone's authority
Nghĩa · Tiếng Việt
thể hiện sự tôn trọng hoặc nộp mình cho quyền lực
Machine-translated — suggest a fix
Literally: to physically kneel
Where it’s used:
Used
Widespread English
Examples
The villagers bent the knee to the visiting king
AI-drafted example auto-approved by rule (illustrative, not a corpus attestation)
Sources & notes
Listed in Wiktionary’s “English idioms” category (retrieved 2026-07-29); definition pending editorial review. Definition drafted by AI (@cf/meta/llama-3.3-70b-instruct-fp8-fast) and auto-approved by rule on 2026-07-30; pending editor spot-check.
Common questions
What does “bend the knee” mean?
To show respect or submit to someone's authority Literally: to physically kneel
Is “bend the knee” formal or informal?
No register label has been reviewed yet — treat it as neutral and check the usage notes above.