bend over backwards

Idioms & Phrases

bend over backwards

Also, lean over backwards. Exert oneself to the fullest extent, as in Dad bent over backwards so as not to embarrass Stasia's new boyfriend. This phrase transfers the gymnastic feat of a backbend to taking a great deal of trouble for someone or something. [c. 1920] Also see under fall all over.

The American Heritage® Dictionary of Idioms by Christine Ammer.
Copyright © 1997. Published by Houghton Mifflin.
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WordNet

bend over backwards
verb
try very hard to please someone; "She falls over backwards when she sees her mother-in-law" [syn: fall over backwards]

WordNet® 3.0, © 2006 by Princeton University.
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00:10

Bend over backwards is always a great word to know.

So is ort. Does it mean:

a scrap or morsel of food left at a meal.

a fool or simpleton; ninny.

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Matching Quote

"Young, and so thin, and so straight.
So straight! as if nothing could ever bend her.
But poor men would bend her, and doing things with poor men,
Being much in bed, and babies would bend her over,
And the rest of things in life that were for poor women,
Coming to them grinning and pretty with intent to bend and to kill."

-Gwendolyn Brooks

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Idioms & Phrases

fall all over

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