Word.ws English Dictionary

leading strings

leading strings noun: strings or straps by which a child is supported when learning to walk.

Noun

leading strings pl (plural only)

  1. (plural, plural-only) Strings or straps by which a child is supported when learning to walk.
    • Thenceforward my voice was a household law; and at an age when few children have abandoned their leading-strings, I was left to the guidance of my own will, and became, in all but name, the master of my own actions.1839, Edgar Allan Poe, William Wilson
  2. (figuratively, plural, plural-only) Guidance given during childhood.
    • In the hey-day of youth, and hardly out of the leading strings of a school, he formed an intention to nuptialize, and joined heart and hand with sweet Ann Hathaway at the age of eighteen and a half.1827, The Boston Lyceum, volumes 1-2, page 206

Questions about leading strings

What does leading strings mean?
Leading strings means strings or straps by which a child is supported when learning to walk.
What part of speech is leading strings?
Leading strings is a noun.

Words near leading strings in the dictionary

  1. leading someone up the garden path
  2. leading spoke
  3. leading spokes
  4. leading strand
  5. leading strands
  6. leading strings
  7. leading the charge
  8. leading the line
  9. leading the way
  10. leading through
  11. Leading Tickles

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: leading strings (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

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