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
"How was your charge; is he walking without leading strings yet?"
From Under the Mendips A Tale by Marshall, Emma
Keep a people in leading strings, it is said, and the moment the strings break, or are worn out, the people will not know where to go.
From The Moors in Spain by Lane-Poole, Stanley
I guess you're equal to holding Handsome Bill by the leading strings, all right....
From My Actor-Husband A true story of American stage life by Anonymous
For freedom of mind means mental power capable of independent exercise, emancipated from the leading strings of others, not mere unhindered external operation.
From How We Think by Dewey, John
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.
