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Definition 2024


red_herring

red herring

English

Noun

red herring (plural red herrings)

  1. A smoke-cured and salt-brined herring strong enough to turn the flesh red; a type of kipper.
    "Up in the morning, and had some red herrings to our breakfast, while my boot-heel was a-mending, by the same token the boy left the hole as big as it was before." (Samuel Pepys diary entry of 28 February 1660)[4]
  2. (figuratively) A clue or information that is or is intended to be misleading, that diverts attention from a question.

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References

  1. "Next, to draw on hounds to a sent, to a redde herring skinne there is nothing comparable.", Thomas Nashe: Lenten Stuffe (1599)
  2. 2008, Michael Quinion, "The Lure of the Red Herring", World Wide Words.
  3. The Phrase Finder.
  4. Samuel Pepys (1893), “The Diary of Samuel Pepys M.A. F.R.S.”, in Samuel Pepys' Diary, retrieved February 21, 2006