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
The other young lady was a slip of a girl just coming out; in fact, this was the first visit which she had ever paid out of leading strings.
From Tom Brown at Oxford by Thomas Hughes
If the people will stand it, then they deserve to be kept in leading strings by all that medley.
From Diary from November 12, 1862, to October 18, 1863 by Adam G. de Gurowski, Count
This lad, in his leading strings, was an incomparable gossip.
From Revisiting the Earth by James Langdon Hill
But taking the Dean would be to put himself into the Dean's leading strings.
From Is He Popenjoy? by Anthony Trollope
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.
