English

Noun

leading-string ‎(plural leading-strings)

1. (historical, chiefly in the plural) Strings with which children were formerly guided while they were learning to walk.
   • 1749, Henry Fielding, Tom Jones, Folio Society 1973, p. 396:

     her lover [...] treated me in all respects as a perfect infant. To say the truth, I wonder she had not insisted on my again wearing leading-strings.

   • 2002, Colin Jones, The Great Nation, Penguin 2003, p. 74:

     Highly protective – Louis wore leading strings until he was seven, a corset for his posture until he was ten – his guardians cocooned him from a wide range of normal childhood experiences.

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