Idiom Breakdown

touch the hem of someone's garment

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Definition

To give respect or reverence to someone; to express servitude to someone; to draw strength or comfort from someone who is superior.

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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.

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"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!"
""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.""
"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.""
"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."

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