leading strings
Americanplural noun
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strings for leading and supporting a child learning to walk.
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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
At first it is a little difficult to understand that one is out of leading strings.
From Long Live the King by Boothby, Guy
The child when first it tries to walk has many tumbles, yet we do not for this reason keep him in leading strings.
From The Truth About Woman by Hartley, C. Gasquoine (Catherine Gasquoine)
They were also free from all the infirmities of children, and needed no leading strings, for, after the first nine days, they all ran like so many partridges.
From Tales from the German Comprising specimens from the most celebrated authors by Various
“In it is pictured the French at school, at war, in leading strings, in love, at work, at play, and at table, in trouble, in England, etc., etc.,”
From A Frenchman in America Recollections of Men and Things by O'Rell, Max
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.
