dig up dirt

dig up (some) dirt (on somebody)

to look for and find unpleasant or embarrassing information about someone They tried to dig up some dirt on their political enemies.

Etymology: based on the slang meaning of dirt (negative information about a person)

Name	Pronounced	Usage
ÁGueda	AH-ge-dhah (Spanish), A-gə-də (Portuguese)	Spanish, Portuguese
ÁStrÍ&Eth;Ur	-	Icelandic
Abdullah	‘ahb-DAH:L-lah (Arabic), ‘ahb-DOOL-lah (Arabic), ahb-dool-LAH (Turkish)	Arabic, Turkish, Malay, Indonesian
Kasimir	KAH-zee-meer	German
Sayyid	-	Arabic
Humphrey	HUM-free	English