ENGLISH
REFERENCE

lead by the nose

idiom
Meaning

To cause to follow blindly.


Origin

disputed origin

The figurative senses are metaphorical extensions from the literal sense of leading a livestock animal by grabbing its nose or nose ring (with the latter hooked to a lead) or by pushing its nose into feed or water to encourage it to eat or drink.

Examples
SIMPLE

Don't let him lead you by the nose.

CONTEXTUAL

The dishonest salesman tried to lead the customer by the nose into buying an expensive car.

COMPLEX

The charismatic leader managed to lead his followers by the nose, convincing them to ignore the obvious flaws in his plan.

Anchors to
Related idioms8entries
  1. 01

    all roads lead to Rome

    Different paths can take one to the same goal.

  2. 02

    banana nose

    A large, unusually long nose.

  3. 03

    button nose

    A nose with a small size and a relatively flat, round shape, usually considered to be dainty or cute in appearance.

  4. 04

    camel's nose

    A situation where the permitting of some small act will lead to a larger undesirable act or circumstance.

  5. 05

    cut off one's nose to spite one's face

    To harm oneself as a result of attempting to harm an adversary.

  6. 06

    get the lead out

    To go faster; to hurry up.

  7. 07

    give someone a bloody nose

    To defeat or frustrate someone, but without doing any permanent damage.

  8. 08

    I suppose

    [Cockney slang]nose

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