1
general::
Phrase(s): get one’s hands dirty [and] dirty one’s hands; soil one’s hands
1. Fig. to get closely involved in a difficult task. • You have to get your hands dirty if you expect to get the gutters cleaned out. 2. Fig. to become involved with something illegal; to do a shameful thing; to do something that is beneath one. • The mayor would never get his hands dirty by giving away political favors. • I will not dirty my hands by breaking the law.
McGrawhill's American Idioms And Phrasal Verbs