pull the ladder up behind oneself

present singular third person pulls the ladder up behind oneself · participle present pulling the ladder up behind oneself · participle past pulled the ladder up behind oneself · past pulled the ladder up behind oneself

1. idiomaticTo prevent others from attaining or benefiting from the same advantages, opportunities, or rights as oneself.

   Near-synonym: pull up the drawbridge

   3 more examples

   The odds are that, after the first flush of enthusiasm, a non-proliferation treaty is going to look to many of the have-nots like a device for letting Russia and America scramble on top of their nuclear piles and then pull the ladder up behind them.

   1965 July 24, “Shall We Non-Proliferate?”, in The Economist, page 313

   Environmental concerns were a neat excuse for the industrialized nations to pull the ladder up behind them.

   1973, Wade Rowland, The Plot to Save the World: The Life and Times of the Stockholm Conference on the Human Environment, page 47

   Commented one senior administrator, “Early in my career another woman said to me, 'When you get where you're going, don't pull the ladder up behind you.' That is the prevalent attitude here."

   1994, Tema Frank, Canada's Best Employers for Women: A Guide for Job Hunters, Employees and Employers, page 45

   Synonyms: pull up the drawbridge