lead someone up the garden path

lead (one) up the garden path

To mislead or deceive one. Don't lead me up the garden path—tell me what is really going on here.
See also: garden, lead, path, up
Farlex Dictionary of Idioms.

lead someone up the garden path

BRITISH or

lead someone down the garden path

AMERICAN
If someone leads you up the garden path, they deceive you by making you believe something which is not true. He led me up the garden path. He said the relationship with Penny was over but now he seems to be seeing her again. They led me down the garden path and made me believe there would be a job for me.
See also: garden, lead, path, someone, up
Collins COBUILD Idioms Dictionary, 3rd ed.

lead someone up the garden path

give someone misleading clues or signals. informal
The earliest (early 20th-century) examples of this phrase use just garden rather than garden path , which suggests that the original context was of someone enticing a person they wanted to seduce or flirt with out into a garden. A North American variant of the phrase is lead someone down the garden path .
See also: garden, lead, path, someone, up
Farlex Partner Idioms Dictionary
See also:
  • lead (one) up the garden path
  • lead somebody up the garden path
  • lead down garden path
  • lead down the garden path
  • lead (one) down the garden path
  • garden path, to lead up/down the
  • get the lead out
  • Get the lead out!
  • lead in
  • lead the line