take a knee
1. Literally, to rest one's weight on a single knee on the ground. OK, team, gather round and take a knee while we go over the game plan. We all took a knee and joined together in prayer.
2. In American football, to touch one's knee to the ground while holding the ball so as to end the current play and down the ball. With his team in the lead, the quarterback began taking a knee to run out the clock and end the game.
Farlex Dictionary of Idioms. © 2024 Farlex, Inc, all rights reserved.
take a knee
1. To kneel down on one knee.
2. Football To kneel down on one knee while holding the ball so as to down the ball, as in one's own end zone for a touchback.
American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition. Copyright © 2016 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.