on bended knee

Idioms  

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 Bended, the past tense of bend, survives only in this idiom, elsewhere having been replaced by bent.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

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Example Sentences

See Examples For:

on bended knee

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

From BBC ● Nov. 9, 2022

Me on bended knee, with a ring I'd emptied my bank account to buy.

From Salon ● Jun. 20, 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

As Lasso, Romney approaches Senator Kyrsten Sinema of Arizona — herself dressed as the club’s owner, Rebecca Welton — on bended knee.

From New York Times ● Nov. 17, 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