под башмаком (pod bashmakóm)

Literally: Under the shoe

Example: “Все знают, что он под башмаком у жены.” — Everyone knows he's under his wife's thumb.

English equivalent: Under someone's thumb

Origin: "Under the shoe" of one's wife is completely dominated by her. Michelson's 19th-century phrase dictionary records it from Nekrasov and the poet Vasily Kurochkin, and modern Russian more often says под каблуком (under the heel). German unter dem Pantoffel stehen (to be under the slipper) has the same picture.