Dictionary

fox in the henhouse en · NOUN

Pronunciation

• (Australia) audio

Etymology

A metaphor referring to the fox as a predator that would prey on the chickens if given an opportunity to do so.

Meanings

1. (figuratively, idiomatic) Someone untrustworthy placed in a position of trust in which they will be harmful, damaging or detrimental for their own personal gain.
   • While the Commissioner of Patents is normally expected to understand and to promote the patent system as a bulwark for promoting the U.S. economy, the current Commissioner is, in many ways, a fox in the henhouse, undertaking to destroy that which he was commissioned to protect and to strengthen. 1995 October 10, David L. Hill, “The Putsch to Enfeeble the Independent U.S. Inventor”, in Impact on U.S. Exporters of the New GATT Patent Accord: Hearing Before the […] House of Representatives […], published 1997, pages 76–7:

Forms

Relateds

accident waiting to happen · cock in the henhouse · set the cat among the pigeons · wolf guarding the sheep

Translations (12)

nb sette bukken til å passe havresekken (someone untrustworthy placed in a position of trust) · cs udělat kozla zahradníkem (someone untrustworthy placed in a position of trust) · cmn 虎入羊群 (someone untrustworthy placed in a position of trust) · hu kecskére bízza a káposztát (someone untrustworthy placed in a position of trust) · liv neiku lambõd sieggõ suž lastõd (someone untrustworthy placed in a position of trust) · it volpe nel pollaio (someone untrustworthy placed in a position of trust) · es zamuro cuidando carne (someone untrustworthy placed in a position of trust) · pt raposa no galinheiro (someone untrustworthy placed in a position of trust) · pl lis w kurniku (someone untrustworthy placed in a position of trust) · de den Bock zum Gärtner machen (someone untrustworthy placed in a position of trust) · fi pukki kaalimaan vartijana (someone untrustworthy placed in a position of trust) · fi kettu kanatarhassa (someone untrustworthy placed in a position of trust)