Word.ws English Dictionary

sets a thief to catch a thief

sets a thief to catch a thief is the third-person singular simple present indicative of set a thief to catch a thief.

Meaning of set a thief to catch a thief

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)

  1. 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

Questions about sets a thief to catch a thief

What is sets a thief to catch a thief the third-person singular simple present indicative of?
Sets a thief to catch a thief is the third-person singular simple present indicative of set a thief to catch a thief.

Words near sets a thief to catch a thief in the dictionary

  1. setpoint
  2. setpoints
  3. setrobuvir
  4. sets
  5. sets a spell
  6. sets a thief to catch a thief
  7. sets aback
  8. sets about
  9. sets adrift
  10. sets afire
  11. sets after

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: sets a thief to catch a thief (page history and authors); 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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