set a thief to catch a thief
set a thief to catch a thief verb: to employ an unscrupulous person in order to catch another unscrupulous person.
Verb
set a thief to catch a thief (third-person singular simple present sets a thief to catch a thief, present participle setting a thief to catch a thief, simple past and past participle set a thief to catch a thief)
- To employ an unscrupulous person in order to catch another unscrupulous person.
- The morality of setting a thief to catch a thief passes muster in the English force; but they do these things better in America. Pinkerton's system for the detective police in America is vastly superior to the British system.1866, Norman Macleod, editor, Good Words, page 415
Forms of set a thief to catch a thief
| third-person singular present | sets a thief to catch a thief |
|---|---|
| present participle | setting a thief to catch a thief |
| past participle | set a thief to catch a thief |
| past | set a thief to catch a thief |
Questions about set a thief to catch a thief
- What does set a thief to catch a thief mean?
- Set a thief to catch a thief means to employ an unscrupulous person in order to catch another unscrupulous person.
- What part of speech is set a thief to catch a thief?
- Set a thief to catch a thief is a verb.
- What is the past tense of set a thief to catch a thief?
- The past tense of set a thief to catch a thief is set a thief to catch a thief.
Words near set a thief to catch a thief in the dictionary
Source and license
Adapted from Wiktionary: set a thief to catch a thief (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.
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Cite this entry: “set a thief to catch a thief.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/set_a_thief_to_catch_a_thief. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.