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
But rapidly it became obvious that the provinces united had become too important to be held in leading strings.
From Encyclopaedia Britannica, 11th Edition, Volume 5, Slice 2 "Camorra" to "Cape Colony" by Various
This everlasting keeping him in leading strings was not to be borne.
From The Son of His Mother by Viebig, Clara
It is not a cause for wonder, therefore, quite apart from special sources of discontent, that Cuba, which, by position is thrown into contact with progressive peoples, should chafe at her leading strings.
From Porto Rico Its History, Products and Possibilities... by Hall, Arthur D.
George Grenville, who followed him, kept the king in leading strings in reliance upon his parliamentary majority.
From Encyclopaedia Britannica, 11th Edition, Volume 9, Slice 5 English History by Various
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.
