bow down
English edit
Pronunciation edit
Verb edit
bow down (third-person singular simple present bows down, present participle bowing down, simple past and past participle bowed down)
- (intransitive, idiomatic) To bow, to bend oneself as a gesture of deference or respect.
- c. 1921 (date written), Karel Čapek, translated by Paul Selver, R.U.R. (Rossum’s Universal Robots): A Fantastic Melodrama […], Garden City, N.Y.: Doubleday, Page & Company, published 1923, →OCLC, Act 2:
- You were all so powerful, so overwhelming. The whole world bowed down before you.
- 2008, BioWare, Mass Effect (Science Fiction), Redwood City: Electronic Arts, →ISBN, →OCLC, PC, scene: Citadel:
- Shepard: The rest of the galaxy isn't just going to bow down just because we tell them to. We'll need the fleets to bring them in line.
Derived terms edit
Translations edit
to bend oneself as a gesture of respect or deference
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