English

Noun

leading strings pl ‎(plural only)

1. Strings or straps by which a child is supported when learning to walk.
   • 1839, Edgar Allan Poe, ‘William Wilson’:

     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.