Canute
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9.9
- proper noun
- /kəˈnjuːt/
- Scientific and technological advances could be postponed, perhaps, but they could no more be repressed forever than King Canute could command the tide to stay.
- King Canute
Examples
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Your call for universal chastity until marriage, and complete faith within it, is as effective as Canute's injunction to the sea.
Blog text (4) -
"Nevertheless," Newman said, "let's play at being King Canute."
Fiction book (1999) -
- I feel like bloody King Canute lying here.
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But he knew better than to play King Canute.
Fiction book (2001) -
Funny that you mention King Canute.
Blog text (24) -
You are no more able to stop those by and large then King Canute was able to stop the tide coming in.
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I think old Canute was trying to say, what's a king compared to the sea?
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It strikes me like King Canute trying to stem the tide.
Academic text (2001) -
You may win a short-term battle, but with expanding demographics and an open door to the country, it gets a bit like expecting to hold the tide back and us being 'King Canute.'
Blog text (25) -
In a famous legend, King Canute demonstrated his humility by sitting by the sea and ordering the waves to retreat.
Synonyms
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9.9
King who ruled England, Denmark, and Norway in the early 11th century
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9.9
King of Denmark, Norway and England in the early 1000s who ruled all England after 1016
King of England, Denmark, and Norway who ruled in the early 1000s
Surface Forms
Etymology
Canute comes from the Old Norse name Knútr, which means 'knot' and is like the English word knot. A helpful way to remember him is to imagine that knot tying Denmark, Norway, and England together, because he became king of all those lands.