on bended knee

Idioms

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 Bended, the past tense of bend, survives only in this idiom, elsewhere having been replaced by bent.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

Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.

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.”

From Washington Post • Nov. 11, 2022

Just weeks later, he went down on bended knee at an Oxford ball.

From BBC • Nov. 9, 2022

You want people to not have to come to you on bended knee for permission, because that ends up giving the main player too much power.

From The Verge • Apr. 26, 2022

It was a moment that did not include the offering of a ring on bended knee.

From New York Times • Oct. 15, 2021

A blushing queen of little more than twenty summers on her throne, and the whole flame-lit hall filling with noble knights on bended knee.

From "The Once and Future King" by T. H. White

Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023