strings or straps by which to support a child learning to walk. In 17th and 18th century Europe, they were narrow straps of fabric attached to children's clothing which originally functioned as a sort of leash to keep the child from straying too far or falling as they learned to walk.
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.
Henry Fielding. The History of Tom Jones, a Foundling
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She often took me out of my box, at my own desire, to give me air, and show me the country, but always held me fast by a leading-string.
Jonathan Swift. Gulliver’s Travels (1726)
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He is a young monarch, scarcely out of political leading-strings, as it were, and doubtless his Ministers thought that they had better arrange his marriage for him.