Definition
To get involved with the unpleasant parts of a task, such as manual labor or unethical activities.
In Context
- "If you expect to seal up every possible source of draftiness, you'll have to get your hands dirty — there will be some kneeling and crawling involved."
- "He doesn't get his hands dirty — that's what the henchmen and the plausible deniability are for."
See Also
- dirty-handed
- dirty work
- wash one's hands of
- the cat would eat fish but would not wet her feet