{"id":10730,"date":"2022-11-16T22:16:39","date_gmt":"2022-11-16T22:16:39","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/english-grammar-lessons.com\/?p=10730"},"modified":"2022-11-16T22:16:39","modified_gmt":"2022-11-16T22:16:39","slug":"weak-in-the-knees-meaning","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/english-grammar-lessons.com\/weak-in-the-knees-meaning\/","title":{"rendered":"Weak in The Knees \u2013 Meaning, Origin and Usage"},"content":{"rendered":"<ul>\n<li>Are you looking for a way to describe an intense feeling of nervousness, fear, or embarrassment? You could say you feel \u201c<strong>weak in the knees<\/strong>.\u201d<\/li>\n<li>Keep reading for more information on the history and meaning of this handy idiom.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h2>Meaning<\/h2>\n<ul>\n<li>The popular phrase \u201c<strong>weak in the knees<\/strong>\u201d means <u>feeling very nervous or scared<\/u> or <u>having any strong emotional response to something<\/u>.<\/li>\n<li>Many people say they are \u201cweak in the knees\u201d when talking about someone they are attracted to, though this isn\u2019t the only meaning. Others might say they went weak in the knees because they were scared, excited about a surprise, or even sad.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h2>Example Usage<\/h2>\n<ul>\n<li>Would you like to add the idiom \u201cweak in the knees\u201d to your vocabulary? Seeing the idiom in action can help you get a better feel for the meaning. These example sentences have got you covered:<\/li>\n<li>\u201cI thought I could watch a scary movie on Halloween, but that horror movie was much scarier than I thought it would be. I went<strong> weak in the knees<\/strong> during the jump scare scenes.\u201d<\/li>\n<li>\u201cJimmy is the cutest person I know. I feel <strong>weak in the knees <\/strong>when I say hi to Jimmy at the grocery shop.\u201d<\/li>\n<li>\u201cWhen my mother told me my uncle passed away, I was shocked by the awful news. I felt <strong>weak in the knees<\/strong> as my uncle and I used to be so close; I didn\u2019t know what to say.\u201d<\/li>\n<li>\u201cI couldn\u2019t believe my eyes when I saw my bills for this month. I felt <strong>weak in the knees<\/strong> just thinking about paying.\u201d<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h2>Origin<\/h2>\n<ul>\n<li>The expression \u201c<strong>weak in the knees<\/strong>\u201d originated from the <strong>Bible<\/strong>.<\/li>\n<li>\u201cWeak in the knees\u201d was a Hebrew expression that referred to Old Testament figures who are terrified or not steady in their faith. Saying someone had \u201cweak knees\u201d meant they were cowardly and unfaithful back then.<\/li>\n<li>The<strong> Wycliffe Bible<\/strong>, which was published in <strong>1382<\/strong> and is the earliest English translation, included the phrases \u201cknees shall tremble\u201d (Ezekiel 7:17) and \u201cfeeble knees\u201d (Isaiah 35:3).<\/li>\n<li>The earliest use of the phrase \u201cweak in the knees\u201d was recorded in the year <strong>1534<\/strong>, in the <em>New<\/em> <em>Testamentary<\/em>, which William Tyndale translated.<\/li>\n<li>The proverb (Hebrews 12:12) read, \u201cStretch forth therfore agayne the hondes which were let doune &amp; the weake knees.\u201d<\/li>\n<li>In today\u2019s English, this translates to \u201cStretch forth therefore again the hands which were let down and the weak knees.\u201d In the 1600s, this phrase meant being fearful or disloyal.<\/li>\n<li>The phrase \u201cweak in the knees\u201d has a fascinating history, and it meant different things in various time periods. Today, most people use this phrase when referring to feeling embarrassed about their crush or describing fear.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h2>Phrases Similar to Weak in The Knees<\/h2>\n<ul>\n<li>Does \u201cweak in the knees\u201d not feel quite right? Idioms similar to weak in the knees include:<\/li>\n<li><strong>Butterflies in my stomach<\/strong> \u2014 feeling very nervous in anticipation of something or being in love.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Yellow-bellied<\/strong> \u2014 an insult to someone cowardly or easily frightened.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Feeling queasy<\/strong> \u2014 this phrase means feeling troubled or uneasy.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Weak-kneed<\/strong> \u2014 this version of the idiom \u201cweak in the knees\u201d is often used as an insult to mean cowardly instead of describing a strong feeling.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h2>Phrases Opposite to Weak in The Knees<\/h2>\n<ul>\n<li>There aren\u2019t any idioms that mean precisely the opposite of weak in the knees. However, you could say that someone is \u201c<strong>clear-headed<\/strong>,\u201d \u201c<strong>steady<\/strong>,\u201d \u201c<strong>aware<\/strong>,\u201d or \u201cstoic\u201d instead.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h2>What Is the Correct Saying?<\/h2>\n<ul>\n<li>The correct saying is \u201c<strong>feeling weak in the knees<\/strong>\u201d or \u201c<strong>[I] went weak in the knees<\/strong>.\u201d It means you feel nervous or frightened.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h2>Ways People May Say Weak in The Knees Incorrectly<\/h2>\n<ul>\n<li>\u201cWeak in the knees\u201d is a metaphor. It doesn\u2019t literally mean that your knees feel weak.<\/li>\n<li>You don\u2019t want to call yourself or someone else \u201cweak-kneed\u201d to describe problems with the kneecaps, as people use this version of the idiom as an insult.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h2>Acceptable Ways to Phrase Weak in The Knees<\/h2>\n<ul>\n<li>You can say that you \u201cfeel weak in the knees\u201d or \u201cwent weak in the knees\u201d when you are scared, embarrassed, or you encountered your crush.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p class=\"mb-2\">Are you looking for a way to describe an intense feeling of nervousness, fear, or embarrassment? You could say you feel \u201cweak in the knees.\u201d Keep reading for more information on the history and meaning of this handy idiom. Meaning The popular phrase \u201cweak in the knees\u201d means feeling very nervous or scared or having [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/english-grammar-lessons.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10730"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/english-grammar-lessons.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/english-grammar-lessons.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/english-grammar-lessons.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/english-grammar-lessons.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=10730"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/english-grammar-lessons.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10730\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":10732,"href":"https:\/\/english-grammar-lessons.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10730\/revisions\/10732"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/english-grammar-lessons.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=10730"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/english-grammar-lessons.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=10730"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/english-grammar-lessons.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=10730"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}