the chickens come home to roost

English

Alternative forms

• come home to roost
• curses, like chickens, come home to roost

Etymology

19th century. First attested as lies, like chickens, come home to roost, although the slightly later curses, like chickens, come home to roost was more common. Both are often said to be Spanish or Turkish in origin. The Oxford Dictionary of Proverbs notes that Geoffrey Chaucer wrote in The Parson's Tale: “And ofte tyme swich cursynge wrongfully retorneth agayn to hym that curseth, as a bryd that retorneth agayn to his owene nest.”

Pronunciation

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Proverb

the chickens come home to roost

1. (idiomatic) A person's past wrongdoings will return to negatively affect them.
   • 1846, Lydia Maria Child, The Mother's Book, C.S. Francis & Co. (6th ed., 1st ed. from 1844), page 98.

     Never were truer words than the Spanish proverb, ‘All lies, like chickens, come home to roost.’

   • 1963, Malcolm X, speech, December 1, 1963:

     Being an old farm boy myself, chickens coming home to roost never did make me sad; they've always made me glad.

   • 1995, Loudon Wainwright III, Cobwebs:

     I suppose you could blame it on my generation, chickens from the 60s finally coming into roost.

   • 2020 March 22, Brooklyn Baldwin, “Rand Paul, Staunch Opponent of Coronavirus Healthcare Package, Diagnosed with Coronavirus”, in The Root:

     Malcolm X ain't never lie; Chickens do come home to roost! And you would think that a senator from Kentucky would know that better than anyone.

   Opponents see the latest indictments as a case of the chickens coming home to roost.

Translations

See also

• evil be to him who evil thinks
• karma
• old sins have long shadows
• reap what one sows
• sow the wind, reap the whirlwind
• what goes around comes around

References