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Citation Information
How to Cite
Manser, Martin H. "an old poacher makes the best gamekeeper." Writer's Reference Center. Facts On File, Inc. Web. 18 Apr. 2025. <http://fofweb.infobase.com/wrc/Detail.aspx?iPin=DOP01339>.
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an old poacher makes the best gamekeeper

Definition 
A reformed wrongdoer is good at preventing others from committing the same crime or offense, because he or she can understand their thinking and anticipate their actions: "What the Church needed, possibly, was a good leavening of sinners in its ministry, on the principle that poachers make the best gamekeepers" (Victor Canning, The Great Affair, 1970). The proverb was first recorded in this form in 1878, but the sentiment it expresses occurs in Chaucer's Canterbury Tales (c. 1390): "A theef of venysoun, that hath forlaft/His likerousnesse and al his olde craft,/Kan kepe a forest best of any man."

Proverb expressing similar meaning: set a thief to catch a thief.

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