touch the hem of someone's garment

Meaning: (idiomatic)To giverespectorreverenceto someone; to expressservitudeto someone; to drawstrengthorcomfortfrom someone who is superior.1847November 1,Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, chapter 1, inEvangeline, 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-PréLived 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 mighttouchher hand orthe hem of her garment!1903,Irving Bacheller, chapter 29, inDarrel of the Blessed Isles:"I do love you," he said with a strong effort to control himself, "but I am not worthy totouch the hem of your garment."1994March 9,Todd S. Purdum, “Clinton's Coming to New York, But Mayor May Skip Invitation”, inNew York Times, retrieved 17 Sept 2013:President Clinton is due at Brooklyn College. . . . "If he just wants to cut a ribbon or let ustouch the hem of his garment, we don't need that."2001June 24, Richard Lacayo, “A Hero's Welcome”, inTime, retrieved 17 Sept 2013:Nelson Mandela . . . can bathe in the adulation of a worldwide throng yearning to, if nottouch the hem of his garment, at least catch a glimpse of him whirring by in a motorcade.

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