to bend over backwards
24
4.9
- idiom
- Informal
:
hacer todo lo posible
- The staff bent over backwards to ensure every guest felt welcome at the event.
Most men will bend over backwards to get the chicks attention right?
- Most men will bend over backwards to get the chicks attention right?
- And this guy is really, yeah, bent over backwards to help me.
- When you have the power to choose where your child goes to school, and where that choice is backed up by state money, schools will start bending over backwards to give you what you want.
- They have no idea that Israel bends over backwards to try to spare civilians.
- And and what he doesn't realize is when you are black, you don't have to bend over backwards trying to prove it to everybody.
Examples
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I have bent over backwards to be nice to you from the moment you walked in that door.
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Every person in this town bends over backwards to make Bianca feel at home.
-
And this guy is really, yeah, bent over backwards to help me.
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We have bent over backwards for that girl.
-
We will bend over backwards for you.
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And then I'll bend over backwards for my parents.
-
I'll bend over backwards to make you a deal.
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Alice, your dad and I have bent over backwards to try to do things your way.
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We've bent over backwards to do the right thing.
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But they're bending over backwards to make sure this market is a success.
Blog text (31)
Synonyms
53
3.5
Make a special effort to do something, often to help someone
26
3.7
To do more than is required to help others or complete a task
To try very hard to please or help someone more than needed
Antonyms
How Helpful
- Informal
7
4.2
- Informal
24
4.9
- Informal
53
3.5
- Informal
28
1.3
5
3.2
Surface Forms
Morphology
The phrase evokes a clear literal image (bending one’s body backwards) that maps metaphorically onto the idea of exerting extreme effort, so a learner knowing 'bend' and 'backwards' can infer a general sense of doing something extreme. However, the specific pragmatic meaning 'make an extra effort to help or please someone' and the social nuance are not fully predictable from the parts alone, so prior exposure helps; thus it is only partly transparent.
Etymology
The phrasal verb bend over backwards comes from the image of someone bending their body very far back; the words bend, over, and backwards show that real movement to reach or help another person. So it means 'to make a great effort to help or please someone'.