Englishlead someone around by the nose
Meaning: To dominate someone; to force someone to do something.
Example: “Her business partner leads her around by the nose.”
Origin: A literal practice long before it was a figure of speech: bulls and other draft animals were controlled with a ring fixed through the nose, precisely because an animal that size could otherwise not be safely handled — whoever held the ring held complete control over where the animal went. The image already appears in the Bible, in Isaiah 37:29, and its first documented use in English comes through a translation of Lucian's 2nd-century Dialogues of the Gods, cited by Erasmus in his Adagia. By the 1500s it had transferred fully to people, and Shakespeare gives it one of its most famous lines in Othello: the Moor, Iago boasts, "will tenderly be led by the nose as asses are."
More English idioms
- more than meets the eye Some hidden aspect to a situation.
- neck of the woods An area; a place.
- need something like one needs a hole in the head To have absolutely no need for something.
- the nitty-gritty The heart of the issue; the most important part of the discussion; the essential points.
- not have a leg to stand on To be in an indefensible situation or to have no support for an argument or case.
- off the top of one's head To say something without much advance preparation.
Explore another collection: Tongue Twisters
Tricky phrases to practice out loud, from languages around the world.
- Betty Botter bought some butter, but she said the butter's bitter. A 'b / t / tt' plosive drill that bounces between Betty, butter, and bitter.
- She sells seashells by the seashore. The definitive 's' versus 'sh' alternation — the tongue has to switch place of articulati…
- Peter Piper picked a peck of pickled peppers. A relentless 'p' plosive drill; a peck is an old dry measure of about nine litres.
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