Set a herring to catch a whale. (Strauss, 1994 p. 1134)
Proposed by a contributor, not yet supported by evidence.
Meaning · English
Use a small or trivial thing to get something much bigger or more important.
Literally: use a herring fish to catch a whale
Examples
The company set a herring to catch a whale by offering a low-cost product to attract more customers.
AI-drafted example auto-approved by rule (illustrative, not a corpus attestation)
Sources & notes
Listed on English Wikiquote “English proverbs” (CC BY-SA 4.0, retrieved 2026-07-31). Definition drafted by AI (@cf/meta/llama-3.3-70b-instruct-fp8-fast) and auto-approved by rule on 2026-08-01; pending editor spot-check.
Common questions
What does “Set a herring to catch a whale. (Strauss, 1994 p. 1134)” mean?
Use a small or trivial thing to get something much bigger or more important. Literally: use a herring fish to catch a whale
Is “Set a herring to catch a whale. (Strauss, 1994 p. 1134)” formal or informal?
No register label has been reviewed yet — treat it as neutral and check the usage notes above.