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Procrustean bed
Definitions
- 1 An arbitrary standard, especially one that is forced upon people for the sake of conformity and involves the sacrifice of what is useful.
"1787, Anna Seward, letter to Francis Noel Clarke Mundy dated 10 October, 1787, in Letters of Anna Seward, Edinburgh: Archibald Constable, 1811, Volume 1, p. 342, Merely to jingle common-place ideas in rhyme, may be easy enough; but to make fine sense, animated and appropriate description, and beautiful imagery, recline gracefully on that Procrustean bed, is about as easy as to compose music like Handel or Hedyen, and to paint like Reynolds, Romney, and Fuzeli."
- 2 Alternative letter-case form of procrustean bed. alt-of
- 3 Alternative letter-case form of procrustean bed. alt-of
"The reductionist tendencies and impulses of Jaynes's approach tend to turn history into a Procrustean Bed; the body is mangled to fit the theory."
- 4 a standard that is enforced uniformly without regard to individuality wordnet
Etymology
From the Greek myth about Procrustes, who assaulted people to make their body height conform to the length of a particular iron bed; see details at Wikipedia.
See also for "procrustean bed"
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