poacher turned gamekeeper

English

Etymology

The figurative sense is by self-evident metaphor from the literal sense. The thought of poachers turned gamekeepers goes back centuries; for example, William Tinsley said in his memoirs that "There is an old saying that the most expert poachers make the best gamekeepers. I do not think the saying is true as a rule […] "[1]

Pronunciation
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Noun

poacher turned gamekeeper (plural poachers turned gamekeepers)

  1. (idiomatic, figurative) A person now charged with protecting what they formerly preyed upon.
    Synonym: wolf guarding the sheep
    • 1877, Mayne Reid, Gwen Wynn: A Romance of the Wye‎, volume III, Tinsley Brothers, page 71:
      Ah! poacher turned gamekeeper! That be settin' thief to catch thief!
    • 1938, The Strand Magazine‎, volume 95, page 373:
      When President Roosevelt appointed Kennedy to the Securities Exchange Commission, he was acting on the "poacher turned gamekeeper" principle.
  2. Used other than figuratively or idiomatically: see poacher,‎ turned,‎ gamekeeper.

See also

References
  1. Tinsley, William (1900) Random Recollections of an Old Publisher‎, volume 1, Simpkin, Marshall, Hamilton, Kent and Company, page 36
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