submission

(See also SUBMISSIVENESS.)

cry barley To call or cry out for a truce, especially in children’s games; to wave the white flag, to surrender. This Scottish and Northern English dialectal expression, which has been in use since the early 19th century, is thought to be a corruption of parley.

cry uncle To admit defeat, to surrender, to give up; also to say uncle. Although the precise origin of this expression is unknown, an often repeated story claims that an early Roman, finding himself in trouble, cried out patrue mi patruissime ‘uncle, my best of uncles.’ The phrase first appeared in print early in this century.

draw in one’s horns To retract an opinion or take a less belligerent stand; to restrain one-self, to hold or pull back; to repress one’s feelings of pride, righteousness, or pretension. In use since the 14th century, this expression alludes to the snail’s habit of pulling in its tentacles when disturbed.

go to Canossa See HUMILIATION.

knuckle under To submit or yield, to give in, to acknowledge defeat. The origin of this expression has been linked to the obsolete knuckle ‘knee joint’; hence knuckle under, meaning to ‘bend the knee before, to bow down to.’

A similar expression with the same meaning is to knock under, an abbreviated form of the obsolete to knock under board or under the table. Rapping against the underside of a table with the knuckles was apparently once a sign of submission or defeat as illustrated by the following citation:

pass under the yoke To make a humiliating submission; to be humbly forced to acknowledge one’s defeat. In ancient Rome vanquished enemies were forced to pass under an arch formed by two spears placed upright in the ground, with a third resting on them. This was a symbol of the even older practice of placing a yoke on the neck of a captive.

The expression is little heard today, although yoke is often used figuratively for ‘servitude, restraint, or humiliation.’

raise the white flag To surrender, to indicate one’s willingness to make peace; to ask for a truce, to declare an end to hostilities. A white flag, also called the flag of truce, has been the symbol of submission for centuries, perhaps because of its associations with cowardice, or with innocence and goodness.

strike sail To acknowledge defeat; to surrender; to eat humble pie; to defer or pay respect to. It was long a naval custom for a defeated ship to strike ‘lower’ its sails or flag as a sign of surrender or submission. Also, friendly ships, upon meeting each other at sea, often lowered their topsails to half-mast as a salute and sign of respect.

In the following quotation from Shakespeare’s Henry VI, Part III, Queen Margaret of England is responding to a request by King Lewis of France that she join him at the royal dinner table.

throw in one’s hand To give up, to drop out of the proceedings, to cease work on a project. This expression is derived from card games in which a player who is dealt poor cards or who realizes at some point during the game that winning is impossible has the option of turning in his hand ‘cards’ and dropping out of the game.

throw in the sponge To admit defeat, to give up, to surrender, to say uncle. In boxing, a manager has the option of ending a fight if he determines that his contestant has no chance of winning, and is suffering unnecessary physical abuse. The manager signals his desire to stop the bout by throwing his fighter’s sponge or towel into the air. This slang Americanism and the variant throw in the towel are used figuratively of any surrender or acknowledgment of defeat.