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on bended knee
Idioms and Phrases
Humbly, pleading, as in They're desperate for funds; they're asking for contributions on bended knee . This expression alludes to a traditional attitude of supplication. Bended , the past tense of bend , survives only in this idiom, elsewhere having been replaced by bent . [Mid-1600s]Example Sentences
His colleagues celebrated his candidacy by circulating an image of him on bended knee praying for divine guidance with other lawmakers on the House floor.
Her role was captured during a now-famous moment in the West Wing of the White House, when the Treasury secretary, Henry Paulson, got down on bended knee pleading for Ms. Pelosi’s help.
She says in the show: “Here I am, coming to you, prime minister, on bended knee, for the sign-off, but I’m hoping that will be a formality.”
She included this gem, which apparently we're supposed to get down on bended knee to thank her for: "As January 6 approached, I circulated a memo to my Republican colleagues explaining why our congressional proceedings to count electoral votes could not be used to change the outcome of the election."
Fred Ryan, The Post’s publisher, criticized Biden for “going to Jiddah on bended knee to shake the ‘pariah’s’ bloodstained hand.”
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Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
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