"give the devil his due" meaning in English

{
  "forms": [
    {
      "form": "gives the devil his due",
      "tags": [
        "present",
        "singular",
        "third-person"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "giving the devil his due",
      "tags": [
        "participle",
        "present"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "gave the devil his due",
      "tags": [
        "past"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "given the devil his due",
      "tags": [
        "participle",
        "past"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "head_templates": [
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "give<,,gave,given> the devil his due"
      },
      "expansion": "give the devil his due (third-person singular simple present gives the devil his due, present participle giving the devil his due, simple past gave the devil his due, past participle given the devil his due)",
      "name": "en-verb"
    }
  ],
  "lang": "English",
  "lang_code": "en",
  "pos": "verb",
  "senses": [
    {
      "categories": [
        {
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "English entries with incorrect language header",
          "parents": [
            "Entries with incorrect language header",
            "Entry maintenance"
          ],
          "source": "w"
        },
        {
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "Pages with 1 entry",
          "parents": [],
          "source": "w"
        },
        {
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "Pages with entries",
          "parents": [],
          "source": "w"
        }
      ],
      "examples": [
        {
          "ref": "c. 1597 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The First Part of Henry the Fourth, […]”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act I, scene ii]:",
          "text": "[…]for he was never yet a breaker of\nproverbs: he will give the devil his due.",
          "type": "quote"
        },
        {
          "ref": "1821, Sir Walter Scott, chapter 4, in Kenilworth:",
          "text": "Yet give the devil his due; Says grace before he doth a deed of villainy.",
          "type": "quote"
        },
        {
          "ref": "1922, Zane Grey, chapter 5, in The Day of the Beast:",
          "text": "And to give the devil his due he's finer than ever. Too damn fine for this crowd!",
          "type": "quote"
        },
        {
          "ref": "2007 April 5, Richard Schickel, \"The Fog of War Resistance\" (film review), Time",
          "text": "We are obliged, at least this once, to give the devil his due — and to consider the possibility that he may even be, in this instance, the angel of bleak truthfulness."
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "To acknowledge the positive qualities of a person who is unpleasant or disliked."
      ],
      "id": "en-give_the_devil_his_due-en-verb-qh8wILqj",
      "links": [
        [
          "acknowledge",
          "acknowledge"
        ],
        [
          "positive",
          "positive"
        ],
        [
          "qualities",
          "quality"
        ],
        [
          "unpleasant",
          "unpleasant"
        ],
        [
          "dislike",
          "dislike"
        ]
      ],
      "raw_glosses": [
        "(idiomatic, informal) To acknowledge the positive qualities of a person who is unpleasant or disliked."
      ],
      "tags": [
        "idiomatic",
        "informal"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "sounds": [
    {
      "audio": "en-au-give the devil his due.ogg",
      "mp3_url": "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/transcoded/e/ec/En-au-give_the_devil_his_due.ogg/En-au-give_the_devil_his_due.ogg.mp3",
      "ogg_url": "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/e/ec/En-au-give_the_devil_his_due.ogg"
    }
  ],
  "word": "give the devil his due"
}

{
  "forms": [
    {
      "form": "gives the devil his due",
      "tags": [
        "present",
        "singular",
        "third-person"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "giving the devil his due",
      "tags": [
        "participle",
        "present"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "gave the devil his due",
      "tags": [
        "past"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "given the devil his due",
      "tags": [
        "participle",
        "past"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "head_templates": [
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "give<,,gave,given> the devil his due"
      },
      "expansion": "give the devil his due (third-person singular simple present gives the devil his due, present participle giving the devil his due, simple past gave the devil his due, past participle given the devil his due)",
      "name": "en-verb"
    }
  ],
  "lang": "English",
  "lang_code": "en",
  "pos": "verb",
  "senses": [
    {
      "categories": [
        "English entries with incorrect language header",
        "English idioms",
        "English informal terms",
        "English lemmas",
        "English multiword terms",
        "English terms with quotations",
        "English verbs",
        "Pages with 1 entry",
        "Pages with entries",
        "Quotation templates to be cleaned"
      ],
      "examples": [
        {
          "ref": "c. 1597 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The First Part of Henry the Fourth, […]”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act I, scene ii]:",
          "text": "[…]for he was never yet a breaker of\nproverbs: he will give the devil his due.",
          "type": "quote"
        },
        {
          "ref": "1821, Sir Walter Scott, chapter 4, in Kenilworth:",
          "text": "Yet give the devil his due; Says grace before he doth a deed of villainy.",
          "type": "quote"
        },
        {
          "ref": "1922, Zane Grey, chapter 5, in The Day of the Beast:",
          "text": "And to give the devil his due he's finer than ever. Too damn fine for this crowd!",
          "type": "quote"
        },
        {
          "ref": "2007 April 5, Richard Schickel, \"The Fog of War Resistance\" (film review), Time",
          "text": "We are obliged, at least this once, to give the devil his due — and to consider the possibility that he may even be, in this instance, the angel of bleak truthfulness."
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "To acknowledge the positive qualities of a person who is unpleasant or disliked."
      ],
      "links": [
        [
          "acknowledge",
          "acknowledge"
        ],
        [
          "positive",
          "positive"
        ],
        [
          "qualities",
          "quality"
        ],
        [
          "unpleasant",
          "unpleasant"
        ],
        [
          "dislike",
          "dislike"
        ]
      ],
      "raw_glosses": [
        "(idiomatic, informal) To acknowledge the positive qualities of a person who is unpleasant or disliked."
      ],
      "tags": [
        "idiomatic",
        "informal"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "sounds": [
    {
      "audio": "en-au-give the devil his due.ogg",
      "mp3_url": "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/transcoded/e/ec/En-au-give_the_devil_his_due.ogg/En-au-give_the_devil_his_due.ogg.mp3",
      "ogg_url": "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/e/ec/En-au-give_the_devil_his_due.ogg"
    }
  ],
  "word": "give the devil his due"
}