kiss someone's ring

present singular third person kisses someone's ring · participle present kissing someone's ring · participle past kissed someone's ring · past kissed someone's ring · alternative kiss the ring

1. idiomaticTo give respect or reverence to someone; to express servitude to someone.

   Betsy eats up the attention like a bobbysoxer at an Elvis concert. It won't be long before Luca will have them kissing his ring.

   2014, Bob Rockwell, “Blood on the Carpet”, in A Slightly Better World, [Morrisville, N.C.?]: Desert Wind Books, →ISBN, page 27

   2 more examples

   The friendship had faltered during their first year at Oxford, when Barnaby had turned jester-in-chief to a pride of strutting young peacocks with titles and country estates. He had made them laugh and kissed their rings and they in return had sneered at him behind his back.

   2011, Mark Mills, chapter 9, in House of the Hanged, London: HarperCollins, →ISBN; House of the Hunted: A Novel, 1st U.S. edition, New York, N.Y.: Random House, 2011, →ISBN, page 106

   "[…] We're taking over and running this industry. Every other label is gonna have to bow down." / "What about Mystique?" Dreya asks. "Is she gonna have to bow down too?" / "It's only a matter of time," Evan says. "If I don't do anything else in this industry, I'm gonna make sure that diva kisses your ring."

   2012 November, Nikki Carter, chapter 15, in Time to Shine: A Fab Life Novel, New York, N.Y.: Dafina KTeen Books, Kensington Publishing Corp., →ISBN, page 147

   Synonyms: kiss someone's hem, touch the hem of someone's garment