dirty one's hands

dirty (one's) hands

1. To partake in especially underhanded, illicit, or illegal work or activities. The public can't be allowed to think that I, a senate hopeful, would ever dirty my hands with a tax-evasion scheme such as that.
2. To do hard work, often manual labor. There is nothing more rewarding to me than dirtying my hands in my garden.
See also: dirty, hand
Farlex Dictionary of Idioms.

dirty one's hands

Also, get one's hands dirty or soil one's hands. Do something shameful or illegal. For example, He refused to dirty his hands and give jobs to the big campaign donors, or Getting one's hands dirty by lying to the boss will be severely punished, or She would not soil her hands by cheating. This expression is a metaphor for literally defiling or soiling oneself. [Mid-1600s]
See also: dirty, hand
The American Heritage® Dictionary of Idioms by Christine Ammer.
See also:
  • dirty (one's) hands
  • get hands dirty and dirty hands; soil hands
  • soil (one's) hands
  • sully
  • sully (one's) hands
  • sully your hands
  • stolen fruit is (the) sweetest
  • stolen fruit is sweet
  • stolen fruit is sweetest
  • stolen pleasures are (the) sweetest
References in periodicals archive
There are all sorts of ways in which one can dirty one's hands in politics.
THE MONIST: Vol. 101, No. 2, April 2018
The baker then made a long milk-bread in the shape of a hot dog for the sausage to be placed in, eliminating the need to dirty one's hands. This quickly rose in popularity.
The long history of hot dogs