Make one submit; reduce to a position of subservience. For example, Solitary confinement usually brings prisoners to their knees. This particular phrase dates only from the late 1800s, although there were earlier versions alluding to being on one's knees as a gesture of submission.
bring to one's knees
| Idioms: bring to one's knees |
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 | knee (Idiom) |
| bring |
Help us answer these
 | Of movement bends the knee and brings the lower leg backward? |
| Napoleons attempt to bring Britain to its knees economically? |
| Who said of the pearl harbor attack--we'll bring them to their knees? |
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 | Idioms. The American Heritage® Dictionary of Idioms by Christine Ammer. Copyright © 1997 by The Christine Ammer 1992 Trust. Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved. Read more |
