leading strings
Americanplural noun
-
strings for leading and supporting a child learning to walk.
-
excessively restraining guidance.
His parents tried to keep him in leading strings, but he finally married and moved away.
Etymology
Origin of leading strings
First recorded in 1670–80
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
Right or wrong, Britain is not responsible for it, and Mr. Wallace's picture of the United States in leading strings is quite fanciful.
From Time Magazine Archive
The bourgeois effaces the knight; the Italian of the Renaissance has broken the leading strings of mystical romance.
From Renaissance in Italy: Italian Literature Part 1 (of 2) by Symonds, John Addington
Meanwhile the English drama, freed from its leading strings, will find its own way for itself.
From The English Stage Being an Account of the Victorian Drama by Filon, Augustin
Hang it, young Joseph, I used to hope that you'd grow wiser in time and cease to need leading strings, but what's bred in the bone comes out in the blood!
From An Old Story of My Farming Days Vol. I (of III). (Ut Mine Stromtid) by Reuter, Fritz
"How was your charge; is he walking without leading strings yet?"
From Under the Mendips A Tale by Marshall, Emma
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
