"poacher turned gamekeeper" meaning in English

{
  "etymology_text": "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 […] \"",
  "forms": [
    {
      "form": "poachers turned gamekeepers",
      "tags": [
        "plural"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "head_templates": [
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "poachers turned gamekeepers"
      },
      "expansion": "poacher turned gamekeeper (plural poachers turned gamekeepers)",
      "name": "en-noun"
    }
  ],
  "lang": "English",
  "lang_code": "en",
  "pos": "noun",
  "senses": [
    {
      "categories": [
        {
          "_dis": "69 31",
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "English entries with incorrect language header",
          "parents": [
            "Entries with incorrect language header",
            "Entry maintenance"
          ],
          "source": "w+disamb"
        },
        {
          "_dis": "73 27",
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "Pages with 1 entry",
          "parents": [],
          "source": "w+disamb"
        },
        {
          "_dis": "77 23",
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "Pages with entries",
          "parents": [],
          "source": "w+disamb"
        }
      ],
      "examples": [
        {
          "ref": "1877, Mayne Reid, Gwen Wynn: A Romance of the Wye, volume III, Tinsley Brothers, page 71:",
          "text": "Ah! poacher turned gamekeeper! That be settin' thief to catch thief!",
          "type": "quote"
        },
        {
          "ref": "1938, The Strand Magazine, volume 95, page 373:",
          "text": "When President Roosevelt appointed Kennedy to the Securities Exchange Commission, he was acting on the \"poacher turned gamekeeper\" principle.",
          "type": "quote"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "A person now charged with protecting what they formerly preyed upon."
      ],
      "id": "en-poacher_turned_gamekeeper-en-noun-KjVAC8YS",
      "raw_glosses": [
        "(idiomatic, figurative) A person now charged with protecting what they formerly preyed upon."
      ],
      "synonyms": [
        {
          "word": "wolf guarding the sheep"
        }
      ],
      "tags": [
        "figuratively",
        "idiomatic"
      ]
    },
    {
      "categories": [
        {
          "_dis": "2 98",
          "kind": "topical",
          "langcode": "en",
          "name": "People",
          "orig": "en:People",
          "parents": [
            "Human",
            "All topics",
            "Fundamental"
          ],
          "source": "w+disamb"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "Used other than figuratively or idiomatically: see poacher, turned, gamekeeper."
      ],
      "id": "en-poacher_turned_gamekeeper-en-noun-7TyTXiL9",
      "links": [
        [
          "poacher",
          "poacher#English"
        ],
        [
          "turned",
          "turned#English"
        ],
        [
          "gamekeeper",
          "gamekeeper#English"
        ]
      ],
      "related": [
        {
          "_dis1": "34 66",
          "word": "fox guarding the henhouse"
        },
        {
          "_dis1": "34 66",
          "word": "fox in the henhouse"
        },
        {
          "_dis1": "34 66",
          "word": "it takes one to know one"
        },
        {
          "_dis1": "34 66",
          "word": "lunatics have taken over the asylum"
        },
        {
          "_dis1": "34 66",
          "word": "set a thief to catch a thief"
        }
      ]
    }
  ],
  "sounds": [
    {
      "audio": "En-au-poacher turned gamekeeper.ogg",
      "mp3_url": "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/transcoded/6/6e/En-au-poacher_turned_gamekeeper.ogg/En-au-poacher_turned_gamekeeper.ogg.mp3",
      "ogg_url": "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/6/6e/En-au-poacher_turned_gamekeeper.ogg"
    }
  ],
  "word": "poacher turned gamekeeper"
}

{
  "categories": [
    "English countable nouns",
    "English entries with incorrect language header",
    "English lemmas",
    "English multiword terms",
    "English nouns",
    "Pages with 1 entry",
    "Pages with entries",
    "en:People"
  ],
  "etymology_text": "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 […] \"",
  "forms": [
    {
      "form": "poachers turned gamekeepers",
      "tags": [
        "plural"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "head_templates": [
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "poachers turned gamekeepers"
      },
      "expansion": "poacher turned gamekeeper (plural poachers turned gamekeepers)",
      "name": "en-noun"
    }
  ],
  "lang": "English",
  "lang_code": "en",
  "pos": "noun",
  "related": [
    {
      "word": "fox guarding the henhouse"
    },
    {
      "word": "fox in the henhouse"
    },
    {
      "word": "it takes one to know one"
    },
    {
      "word": "lunatics have taken over the asylum"
    },
    {
      "word": "set a thief to catch a thief"
    }
  ],
  "senses": [
    {
      "categories": [
        "English idioms",
        "English terms with quotations"
      ],
      "examples": [
        {
          "ref": "1877, Mayne Reid, Gwen Wynn: A Romance of the Wye, volume III, Tinsley Brothers, page 71:",
          "text": "Ah! poacher turned gamekeeper! That be settin' thief to catch thief!",
          "type": "quote"
        },
        {
          "ref": "1938, The Strand Magazine, volume 95, page 373:",
          "text": "When President Roosevelt appointed Kennedy to the Securities Exchange Commission, he was acting on the \"poacher turned gamekeeper\" principle.",
          "type": "quote"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "A person now charged with protecting what they formerly preyed upon."
      ],
      "raw_glosses": [
        "(idiomatic, figurative) A person now charged with protecting what they formerly preyed upon."
      ],
      "synonyms": [
        {
          "word": "wolf guarding the sheep"
        }
      ],
      "tags": [
        "figuratively",
        "idiomatic"
      ]
    },
    {
      "glosses": [
        "Used other than figuratively or idiomatically: see poacher, turned, gamekeeper."
      ],
      "links": [
        [
          "poacher",
          "poacher#English"
        ],
        [
          "turned",
          "turned#English"
        ],
        [
          "gamekeeper",
          "gamekeeper#English"
        ]
      ]
    }
  ],
  "sounds": [
    {
      "audio": "En-au-poacher turned gamekeeper.ogg",
      "mp3_url": "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/transcoded/6/6e/En-au-poacher_turned_gamekeeper.ogg/En-au-poacher_turned_gamekeeper.ogg.mp3",
      "ogg_url": "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/6/6e/En-au-poacher_turned_gamekeeper.ogg"
    }
  ],
  "word": "poacher turned gamekeeper"
}