knee-crooking

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English

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Etymology

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Compare bend the knee.

Adjective

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knee-crooking (not comparable)

  1. Obsequious; submissive.
    • 2009, Terence Barnett Magness, The Brood of Time, page 378:
      With his usual dose of commonsense he recognized that nothing could really change the status quo, and all that a knee-crooking knave might do in protest was to sneak a line or two into his verse simply to let off steam […]
    • 2022, Ottilie A. Liljencrantz, The Thrall of Leif the Lucky: A Story of Viking Days:
      The Norman said nothing, but he did what the bystanders considered rather surprising in a knee-crooking Frenchman. Neither bending his body nor doffing his helmet, he folded his arms across his breast and looked straight into the Lucky One's eyes.
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