bow and scrape, to

To be submissive, especially when faced with an authority figure. I think that management sees us all as lowly workers who should bow and scrape to them.

Fig. to be very humble and subservient. Please don't bow and scrape. We are all equal here. The salesclerk came in, bowing and scraping, and asked if he could help us.

Behave obsequiously or too deferentially, as in In this fashionable store, the salespersons virtually bow and scrape before customers. This term alludes to the old-fashioned custom of bowing so deeply that one's foot draws back and scrapes the ground. A cliché for a century or more, it may be dying out. [Mid-1600s]

If someone is bowing and scraping, they are behaving in a way that is extremely respectful towards a powerful or famous person. Note: `Bow' is pronounced with the same vowel sound as the word `how'. Whatever the aides may say about bowing and scraping, however, the royals expect it. I'm hoping my hereditary title will not put off prospective customers. It can be a drawback because some people feel they have to bow and scrape. Note: You use this expression to show that you think that this behaviour is humiliating. Note: If you bow, you bend your body towards someone as a formal way of greeting them or showing respect. In the past, `scraping' was a form of bowing which involved drawing back one leg and bending the other.

To behave obsequiously.

To behave obsequiously, to show too much deference. The term literally means to bow one’s head and draw back one foot, which then scrapes the ground. A cliché since the mid-nineteenth century, it is becoming as obsolete as the custom of bowing has, at least in the Western world.