fouling one's own nest
fouling one's own nest is the present participle and gerund of foul one's own nest.
Meaning of foul one's own nest
Verb
foul one's own nest (third-person singular simple present fouls one's own nest, present participle fouling one's own nest, simple past and past participle fouled one's own nest)
- To damage one's environment.
- Provide them with a mansion, and they will rip out the plumbing, write obscenities on the walls, and generally foul up their own nest.1992, Roy Masters, Secrets of a Parallel Universe, →ISBN, page 142
- To hurt one's own interests, especially to damage the reputation of one's self, family or group.
- He had concluded, 'Arbitrary violence against them now would be to foul your own nest; mar at the outset the future that is your destiny.2007, Roger Taylor, Farnor, →ISBN, page 200
- Synonyms:
- shoot oneself in the foot
Questions about fouling one's own nest
- What is fouling one's own nest the present participle and gerund of?
- Fouling one's own nest is the present participle and gerund of foul one's own nest.
Words near fouling one's own nest in the dictionary
Source and license
Adapted from Wiktionary: fouling one's own nest (page history and authors); foul one's own nest (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.
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Cite this entry: “fouling one's own nest.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/fouling_one%27s_own_nest. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.
