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whirlwind

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sow the wind and reap the whirlwind

Prov. to start some kind of trouble that grows much larger than you planned. (Biblical.) our enemy has sown the wind by provoking this war, and they will reap the whirlwind when we vanquish them.

See also: and, reap, sow, whirlwind, wind

reap the whirlwind

  (American)

to have serious problems because you did something stupid in the past Having fired some of his best reporters, he's now reaping the whirlwind with rapidly declining newspaper sales.

See also: reap, whirlwind

reap the whirlwind

Suffer the consequences. Hosea 8:7's “For they have sown the wind, and they shall reap the whirlwind” has come to mean that evil deeds in the past will come back to haunt you. Another biblical verse with a similar admonition is Galatians 6:7's “Whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he also reap” (used as the expression, “you'll reap what you sow”), and Proverbs 11:29's “He that troubleth his own house shall inherit the wind.” As yet another indication how popular references have shifted from the sacred to the profane, the contemporary equivalent is “Be aware of what you do, or else it may come back and bite you in the ass.”

See also: reap, whirlwind