English

Alternative forms

• scrape and bow

Verb

to bow and scrape ‎(third-person singular simple present bows and scrapes, present participle bowing and scraping, simple past and past participle bowed and scraped)

1. To make a deep bow with the right leg drawn back (thus scraping the floor), left hand pressed across the abdomen, right arm held aside.
2. (idiomatic, by extension) To behave in a servile, obsequious, or excessively polite manner.
   • 1988 March 27, Newgate Callendar, "Crime" (book review of The Vulgar Boatman by William G. Tapply), New York Times (retrieved 25 Nov 2012):

     But he is not one of those lawyers who bow and scrape before wealthy clients. He will not be pushed around.

Synonyms

• (make a deep bow with the right leg draw back): make a leg
• (behave in a servile, obsequious, or excessively polite manner): brownnose, fawn, suck up

Translations

Noun

bow and scrape ‎(plural bows and scrapes)

1. A deep formal bow with right leg drawn back touching the ground.
   • 1851, Nathaniel Hawthorne, The House of Seven Gables. ch. 11:

     [H]e took off his Highland bonnet, and performed a bow and scrape.

See also

• kowtow

References

• bow and scrape at OneLook Dictionary Search