1
general::
Phrase(s): on bended knee
kneeling, as in supplication. (The verb form is obsolescent and occurs now only in this phrase.) • Do you expect me to come to you on bended knee and ask you for forgiveness? • The suitors came on bended knee and begged the attention of the princess.
McGrawhill's American Idioms And Phrasal Verbs
2
general::
Humbly, pleading, as in They're desperate for funds; they're asking for contributions on bended knee. This expression alludes to a traditional attitude of supplication. Bended, the past tense of bend, survives only in this idiom, elsewhere having been replaced by bent. [Mid-1600s]
American Heritage Idioms