Canossa

[kuh-nos-uh; Italian kah-naws-sah]

noun

a ruined castle in N Italy: scene of the penance of Emperor Henry IV of the Holy Roman Empire before Pope Gregory VII in 1077.

Idioms

go to Canossa, to humble oneself.

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2018

Examples from the Web for canossa

Historical Examples of canossa

He is wearing a penitent's sack over his regal habit, as at Canossa.
Three Plays
Luigi Pirandello
The brave Matilda, ever faithful, was shut up in impregnable Canossa.
The Makers of Modern Rome
Mrs. (Margaret) Oliphant
How could an instrument written at Canossa have been written at Rome?
A Philosophical Dictionary, Volume 4 (of 10)
Franois-Marie Arouet (AKA Voltaire)
The matter ended at Canossa, as you know, when the Emperor had to kiss the Pope's foot.
Historical Miniatures
August Strindberg
At this period Bismarck made his famous declaration, "To Canossa we do not go!"
A History of Germany
Bayard Taylor

British Dictionary definitions for canossa

Canossa

noun

a ruined castle in N Italy, in Emilia near Reggio nell'Emilia: scene of the penance done by the Holy Roman Emperor Henry IV before Pope Gregory VII

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012