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knuckle under

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knuckle under (to someone or something)

to submit to someone or something; to yield or give in to someone or something. You have to knuckle under to your boss if you expect to keep your job. I'm too stubborn to knuckle under.

See also: knuckle

knuckle under (to somebody/something)

to accept unwillingly what someone or something demands We want to reach an agreement, but we won't knuckle under to their demands.

Related vocabulary: give in (to somebody/something)

See also: knuckle

knuckle under

Also, knuckle down. Give in, acknowledge defeat, as in The dean refused to knuckle under to the graduate students' demands, or He was forced to knuckle down before their threats of violence. Presumably this idiom alludes to a kneeling position with hands on the ground, knuckles down. [Mid-1700s]

See also: knuckle

knuckle under

v.

To yield to some opposing force: The union knuckled under to pressure from the company. I've made up my mind on this matter, and I will not knuckle under.

See also: knuckle

knuckle under

verb

See knuckle under to someone/something

See also: knuckle