dirty work

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dirty work (uncountable)

1. (idiomatic) One or more unpleasant tasks, assignments, or employment duties, especially those of a disreputable or illicit nature.
   • 1848, Elizabeth Gaskell, chapter 2, in Mary Barton:

     . . . a sort of little back kitchen, where dirty work, such as washing up dishes, might be done.

   • 1893, Horatio Alger, chapter 21, in Cast Upon the Breakers:

     "I am no telltale," said James scornfully. . . . Jasper urged James to give information about Rodney, but he steadily refused. "I leave others to do such dirty work," he said.

   • 1917, Upton Sinclair, chapter 11, in King Coal:

     [M]any a business-man can say he doesn't do dirty work, because he has others do it for him.

   • 1936, George Orwell, "Shooting an Elephant":

     In a job like that you see the dirty work of Empire at close quarters. The wretched prisoners huddling in the stinking cages of the lock-ups, the grey, cowed faces of the long-term convicts, the scarred buttocks of the men who had been Bogged with bamboos – all these oppressed me with an intolerable sense of guilt.

   • 2003 Feb. 4, Elaine Shannon et al., "At Home, the FBI Keeps Tabs On Iraqis," Time:

     US experts believe the Iraqi intelligence service will set the plots in motion, then recruit or extort amateurs to do the dirty work.

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