touch the hem of someone's garment
English
[edit]Alternative forms
[edit]- kiss someone's hem, kiss the hem of someone's garment, touch someone's hem, touch someone's robe, touch the hem of someone's robe
Etymology
[edit]An allusion to the Biblical tale (Matthew 9:20) of the woman who was cured of disease when she touched the hem of Christ's garment.
Pronunciation
[edit]Audio (General Australian): (file)
Verb
[edit]touch the hem of someone's garment (third-person singular simple present touches the hem of someone's garment, present participle touching the hem of someone's garment, simple past and past participle touched the hem of someone's garment)
- (idiomatic) To give respect or reverence to someone; to express servitude to someone; to draw strength or comfort from someone who is superior.
- 1847 November 1, Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, chapter 1, in Evangeline, a Tale of Acadie, Boston, Mass.: William D. Ticknor & Company, →OCLC, part I:
- Thus, at peace with God and the world, the farmer of Grand-Pré
Lived on his sunny farm, and Evangeline governed his household.
Many a youth, as he knelt in the church and opened his missal,
Fixed his eyes upon her, as the saint of his deepest devotion;
Happy was he who might touch her hand or the hem of her garment!
- 1903, Irving Bacheller, chapter 29, in Darrel of the Blessed Isles:
- "I do love you," he said with a strong effort to control himself, "but I am not worthy to touch the hem of your garment."
- 1994 March 9, Todd S. Purdum, “Clinton's Coming to New York, But Mayor May Skip Invitation”, in New York Times, retrieved 17 Sept 2013:
- President Clinton is due at Brooklyn College. . . . "If he just wants to cut a ribbon or let us touch the hem of his garment, we don't need that."
- 2001 June 24, Richard Lacayo, “A Hero's Welcome”, in Time, retrieved 17 Sept 2013:
- Nelson Mandela . . . can bathe in the adulation of a worldwide throng yearning to, if not touch the hem of his garment, at least catch a glimpse of him whirring by in a motorcade.