# poacher turned gamekeeper

> English word · Noun

## Definitions
1. A person now charged with protecting what they formerly preyed upon.
2. Used other than figuratively or idiomatically: see poacher, turned, gamekeeper.

## 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 […] "

## Source
Compiled from Wiktionary via kaikki.org (CC BY-SA). Data vintage: 2026-05-06.
Canonical page: https://plainspell.com/en/word/poacher-turned-gamekeeper