knuckle to
C1 formal inseparable intransitive
In simple words
To give up fighting and do what someone powerful wants you to do.
Literal meaning: To bend one's knuckles toward someone, as a gesture of submission.
Meanings
1 C1
idiomatic
formal
To yield to authority or pressure; to submit to someone's demands.
"The workers refused to knuckle to the factory owner's unfair new rules."
Grammar: inseparable
Usage notes
This is an archaic or old-fashioned expression rarely used in modern English. 'Knuckle under' has almost completely replaced it. May appear in 19th-century literature.
Commonly used with
authority demands pressure superior power
Forms
Base
knuckle to
I/you/we/they
3rd person
knuckles to
he/she/it
Past simple
knuckled to
yesterday
Past participle
knuckled to
have + pp
-ing form
knuckling to
continuous
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