Genuflect By Deane Barker • October 18, 2021 • Definition: To bend a single knee to the ground as a measure of respect or submission This is a religious term, as there are several specific religious practices around it. However, it’s more known as an idiom or shorthand to mean “defer.” An alternative definition: To be servilely respectful or deferential; grovel. I’ve interpreted it from context quite often to mean, “obviously demonstrate appropriate respect.” Postscript Added on August 22, 2022 This situation is recalled in the book Too Big to Fail: To break the tension, [Treasury Secretary Hank Paulson] went down on one knee before House speaker Nancy Pelosi. […] Pelosi tried to repress a smile at the site of the towering Treasury secretary genuflecting before her…