lead by the nose, to
lead someone by the nose
1. Fig. to force someone to go somewhere (with you); to lead someone by coercion. John had to lead Tom by the nose to get him to the opera. I'll go, but you'll have to lead me by the nose.
2. Fig. to guide someone very carefully and slowly. (As if the person were not very smart.) He will never find his way through the tax form unless you lead him by the nose. Don't lead me by the nose! I'm coming!
See also: by, lead, nose
McGraw-Hill Dictionary of American Idioms and Phrasal Verbs.
lead by the nose
Dominate or control someone, as in "The Moor ... will tenderly be led by the nose as asses are" (Shakespeare, Othello, 1:3). This expression alludes to an animal being led by a ring passed through its nostrils. [Late 1500s]
See also: by, lead, nose
The American Heritage® Dictionary of Idioms by Christine Ammer.
lead by the nose, to
To dominate. Although this phrase, which alludes to an animal led by a ring passed through its nostrils, occurs in a slightly different form in the Bible (Isaiah 37:29), its first use in English appears in a translation of Lucian’s Dialogues of the Gods (ca. a.d. 170), cited by Erasmus in Adagia. By the sixteenth century it had been transferred to human beings. Arthur Golding’s translation of Calvin’s writings (1583) states it as, “Men . . . suffer themselves to be led by the nose like brute beasts.”
See also: by, lead
The Dictionary of Clichés by Christine Ammer
- garden path, to lead up/down the
- lead in
- lead with
- lead on
- lead (one) to the altar
- led
- get the lead out
- Get the lead out!
- get the lead out of (one's) pants
- fill full of lead