# the chickens come home to roost

idiom

Source: https://englishreference.com/idiom/the-chickens-come-home-to-roost
Updated: 2026-08-10

## Meaning

A person's past wrongdoings will return to negatively affect them.

## Examples

- His past lies are finally coming home to roost.
- The chickens come home to roost when your lazy habits cause you to fail.
- After years of ignoring his debt, the bank finally seized his property as his chickens came home to roost.
- The manager treated her staff poorly for years, but now the chickens have come home to roost because no one will help her finish the big project.
- The politician realized that his long history of broken promises had finally come home to roost, as voters turned against him in the final days of the campaign.

## Origin

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.” (disputed)

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