to bow down
30
3.7
- phrasal verb
- /baʊ daʊn/
:
inclinarse
- Respect the traditions of the festival and bow down as the procession passes by.
- bow down and worship
- refuse to bow down
- bow down to the queen
You didn't bow down, you didn't fall, you didn't lose.
- You didn't bow down, you didn't fall, you didn't lose.
- Every critic, every detractor will have to bow down to President Trump.
- Like people in the room with him, you know, had to bow down to his magnetism and his charisma.
- Not anger, but I I think they expect you to just buckle and bow down.
- You know the truth is your mission and your dream should never be made to bow down to your limited strengths.
- should never be made to bow down to your limited strengths. You wanna know how you become unstoppable?
- And every day we'd wake up in the morning and he would bow down before me on the floor to honor the soul that's within my heart.
- So I personally would never bow down and I speak on behalf of a lot of the British people, a bit like yourself.
- And any rock'n'roll band needs to bow down to the greatness of the Stones and also to the inspiration that you get from watching them.
- Still, we don't bow down to failure, worry, moments of doubt.
- Like, like, I'll bow down, Doctor Justin.
- I've seen the star of stars, like just kind of bow down the dude.
- Everything Donald Trump is, his religion would tell me that he's against, but he cannot bow down and kiss his ass quick enough.
- People have to as they bow down to you know, what role do you feel the guru plays?
Examples
-
How dare the people not bow down to the law as written.
Blog text (20) -
You need to do this when you address the gods: bow down and submit to good.
Blog text (34) -
All you have to do is bow down to me...
-
Look at me and bow down."
-
Now, everyone bow down to me!
-
In the Holy Spirit, I want you to bow down.
-
And you shall know that God is God and bow down to his will.
-
You bow down before him.
-
For they go up to their roofs and bow down to the sun, moon, and stars.
Blog text (32) -
Bow down before God!
Synonyms
149
1.4
To be with your knees on the ground
132
1.7
To bend the head forward to show respect
9
8.9
To show too much respect and obedience to someone in power
7
6.5
To lower the body slightly by bending the knees as a polite greeting, often by women
6
8.1
To lie flat on the ground, face down, often to show submission or respect
5
9.9
To kneel on one or both knees to show respect, often in a church
3
9.4
Behave too politely and humbly to please someone
1
8.4
To show loyalty and obey a powerful person
1
3.9
Bend your upper body forward from the waist to show respect
To do what someone else wants even if you do not want to
Antonyms
How Respectful
Surface Forms
Morphology
The meaning 'to bend your body or lower your head / show respect or submission' is directly derived from combining 'bow' (to incline the head or upper body) with 'down' (to a lower position). This compositional motion/position pattern is cross-linguistically common and follows standard English verb + particle semantics, so a B1 learner who knows both words would readily infer the MWE meaning.
Etymology
The phrase bow down comes from the simple picture of bending your body: to bow and go down so your head is lower than someone else's. This act shows respect or lets someone else have power, so today it means 'show respect' or 'give in'.