Meaning:
To `take (or pull, or bring) down a peg (or two)' is to lower someone's high
opinion of themselves.
Background:
Various quantities and qualities have been measured by the use of pegs. It
has been suggested that the pegs in question here were those used to regulate
the amount of drink taken from a barrel, or those that controlled the
hoisting of the colours (flags) of ships. Either of these might be correct
although, like the `yards' of `the whole nine yards`, `pegs' could relate to
many things.
It is interesting though that all the early citations of the phrase have a
religious context; for example:
Pappe with An Hatchet, 1589 - "Now haue at you all my gaffers of the
rayling religion, tis I that must take you a peg lower."
Joseph Mead's Letters, 1625 - "A-talking of the brave times that would be
shortly... when... the Bishop of Chester, that bore himself so high, should
be hoisted a peg higher to his little ease."
Samuel Butler's Hudibras, 1664 - "We still have worsted all your holy
Tricks,... And took your Grandees down a peg."
If the pegs were some religious artefact, it isn't clear what they were.
Lacking any real evidence, we can't be sure of the origin.
- www.phrases.org.uk [edited]
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In jiu-jitsu, one must be ready to be taken down a peg or two from time to time,
especially when grappling with lower belts, and to admit defeats before
they turn into injuries that take months to heal or worse. That's how ego gets
destroyed, by pain, and over time, the wins no longer feel like being chosen by
God and the losses offer truly valuable lessons.
