Definitions
from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.
- intransitive verb To bend the knee or touch one knee to the floor or ground, as in worship.
- intransitive verb To be servilely respectful or deferential; grovel.
from The Century Dictionary.
- To bend the knee, as in an act of worship or of respect; perform genuflection.
from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.
- intransitive verb To bend the knee, as in worship.
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.
- verb intransitive To
bend theknee , as inservitude orworship - verb intransitive To behave in a servile manner; to
grovel .
from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.
- verb bend the knees and bow in church or before a religious superior or image
- verb bend the knees and bow in a servile manner
Etymologies
from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License
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Examples
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I'm shocked, SHOCKED … dgardner @TonyClement_MP: There are options between "genuflect" and "dismiss with extreme prejudice."
Macleans.ca 2010
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Maybe it's a stretch, but I think it's a take off of the word "genuflect," which means to go down on your knees.
GeekLikeMe.net 2008
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"genuflect," but it doesn't matter, because it's hot girls with large breasts and wearing tight clothing fighting a giant mutated frog!
Comics Should Be Good! @ Comic Book Resources Greg Burgas 2010
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Now, in fairness, we conservatives don't genuflect when someone invokes the Gray Lady as the ultimate authority in all matters temporal and spiritual.
Ken Blackwell: "Gibbsy" Steps in it Ken Blackwell 2010
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Now, in fairness, we conservatives don't genuflect when someone invokes the Gray Lady as the ultimate authority in all matters temporal and spiritual.
Ken Blackwell: "Gibbsy" Steps in it Ken Blackwell 2010
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Looking back at Labour health policy now, I have to ask myself how so many of us were unable to see through the mists of what Leys and Player call the "misrepresentation, obfuscation, and deception" perpetrated by Blair, Brown, and a host of health ministers all too willing to genuflect to the market zeitgeist.
The Plot Against the NHS by Colin Leys and Stewart Player – review 2011
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Instead they genuflect to the allegedly superior wisdom of markets, and retreat to the comfort zone of saying that the best and only thing they can do is to balance their books – precisely the wrong thing to do in the wake of a financial crisis.
Observer editorial: Our leaders need to seize control of the crisis 2011
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Now, in fairness, we conservatives don't genuflect when someone invokes the Gray Lady as the ultimate authority in all matters temporal and spiritual.
Ken Blackwell: "Gibbsy" Steps in it Ken Blackwell 2010
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So there you have it: the great high priest of Darwinian Dogma has spoken; all nonsense perhaps, but atheists, please genuflect.
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So there you have it: the great high priest of Darwinian Dogma has spoken; all nonsense perhaps, but atheists, please genuflect.
Richard Dawkins explains how the gay gene was preserved « Anglican Samizdat 2010
chained_bear commented on the word genuflect
First you get down on your knees
Fiddle with your rosaries
Bow your head in great respect and--
Genuflect, genuflect, genuflect...
--Tom Lehrer, "The Vatican Rag"
I can't help it, I start singing this song every time I see this word. Probably because I'm Catholic, I find it unbelievably amusing.
January 15, 2008
PossibleUnderscore commented on the word genuflect
Funny song... I have to agree with you.
July 17, 2009
dbekeny commented on the word genuflect
LION
(sings)
And the sparrow would take wing
'F -- I...'f -- I...were King!
Each rabbit would show respect to me. The
chipmunks...
...genuflect to me.
Though my tail would lash
I would show compash
For every underling.
'F -- I...'f -- I --- were King
Just King!....
June 11, 2010
RevBrently commented on the word genuflect
From p. 11 of Patrick Leigh Fermor's "A Time to Keep Silence":
Here each pair of monks genuflected, inclined their heads one to another, and made their way to opposite stalls.
January 21, 2014