Word.ws English Dictionary

setting a thief to catch a thief

setting a thief to catch a thief is the present participle and gerund 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 setting a thief to catch a thief

What is setting a thief to catch a thief the present participle and gerund of?
Setting a thief to catch a thief is the present participle and gerund of set a thief to catch a thief.

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

  1. setteth
  2. setteth about
  3. settin'
  4. setting
  5. setting a spell
  6. setting a thief to catch a thief
  7. setting aback
  8. setting about
  9. setting adrift
  10. setting afire
  11. setting after

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: setting 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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