eat (one's) young

(redirected from eat their young)

eat (one's) young

To neglect, betray, or harshly criticize members of a group that are of a lower status or position. The more experienced nursing staff has been accused of eating their young, treating trainees and new nurses with sometimes intolerable contempt. As the business crumbled, the CEOs and members of management began eating their young out of desperation, indiscriminately firing anyone who had less than five years' experience in the company.
See also: eat, young
References in periodicals archive ?
In the animal world, carnivores eat placenta so the smell does not attract predators who might eat their young.
Placenta? A bit like liver but smooth as a pate... AFTER COLEEN TAKES AFTERBIRTH PILLS..
There is a saying out there that nurses eat their young --let's not eat our young.
New nurse to acute nurse: a new grad in inpatient dialysis
DAVID Banks (The Journal, October 5) quotes the farmers' view that badgers are at least partly or possibly totally responsible for the decline in hedgehogs as they eat their young.
Hedgehog loss a complex issue; Views of the North
But, if these birds are cannibals, because they eat their young, then what does that make us?
Cormorants aren't the only cannibals out there
Ending nurse-to-nurse hostility: Why nurses eat their young and each other.
Nurses eating their young: are we teaching students more than nursing skills?
Cheryl Dellasega will lead a session, "Spite in White: Do Nurses Really Eat Their Young (and Other Folks They Don't Like)?
Calendar
It seems counter intuitive that a student nurse filled with promise and potential can be quelled, in the same manner that the potential offspring are destroyed when animals eat their young.
'Eating alive' nursing students is counter intuitive
I quickly found out that there are older techs on first shift that like to eat their young and enjoy a good spirit-crushing counseling session every so often.
Do techs want to eat their young?
They eat their young," Deputy Superintendent Stephen E.
Schools bear budget pain over the years
He makes you realise why some animals eat their young.
Garry Bushell on the box: Hitler youth declares war on Walford dad
Too often it has been observed that `nurses eat their young.
Mentors, Mentoring
Because telephone poles, unlike trees, provide clear sight lines for birds, it is impossible for cats to sneak up on them and eat their young.
Bird on a Wire
They claim females, forced to breed non-stop, eat their young due to stress.
Horror conditions of the guinea pigs bred for test trade
In Nashville they eat their young and then expect them to reproduce.
Stephin Merritt: pop magnetism
In a SportsBusiness Journal story on concerns about the long-term prospects of the Major League Soccer, commissioner Doug Logan acknowledges that the media has contributed to the league's problems, saying ``there is a tendency for reporters to eat their young these days.
SPORTS NEWS OF INTEREST; ETHICS ARE LENT AND BENT
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