Skip to content
ontologydriven
Sign out

Dictionary

Words, grammatical forms and meanings linked to the ontology.

pull the ladder up after oneself en · VERB

Meanings

  1. (alt-of, alternative, idiomatic) Alternative form of pull the ladder up behind oneself.
    • Basically if you are on the up, don't pull the ladder up after you! 2014, Nicola Wells, "Belief To Succeed", InBUSINESS, Quarter One 2014, page 51
    • “There are a lot of people who have achieved success, but then pulled the ladder up after them,” [John M.] Connors added. 2012 May 1, Reid Oslin, “Long-time Trustee James Cleary Dies”, in The Boston College Chronicle, Chestnut Hill, MA, page 6:
    • It is un-American to pull the ladder up after you; the American way is to pass it down to the next person, and silence is complicity when it comes to this. 2018, Ciaran Staunton, quoted in "Hibernia: Quote Unquote", Irish America, June/July 2018, page 31

Forms

SpellingFeaturesLabelsSource
pulled the ladder up after oneself Tense=Past, VerbForm=Part lexicographic
pulled the ladder up after oneself Tense=Past lexicographic
pulls the ladder up after oneself Number=Sing, Person=3, Tense=Pres lexicographic
pulling the ladder up after oneself Tense=Pres, VerbForm=Part lexicographic