"lead someone up the garden path" meaning in English

See lead someone up the garden path in All languages combined, or Wiktionary

Verb

IPA: /ˈliːd ˌsʌmwʌn ˈʌp ðə ˈɡɑːdn̩ pɑːθ/ [Received-Pronunciation], /ˈlid ˌsʌmwʌn ˈʌp ðə ˈɡɑɹdən ˌpæθ/ [General-American] Audio: En-us-lead someone up the garden path.mp3 [General-American] Forms: leads someone up the garden path [present, singular, third-person], leading someone up the garden path [participle, present], led someone up the garden path [participle, past], led someone up the garden path [past]
Etymology: Probably a reference to the fact that a garden path is often winding instead of direct. Head templates: {{en-verb|lead<,,led> someone up the garden path}} lead someone up the garden path (third-person singular simple present leads someone up the garden path, present participle leading someone up the garden path, simple past and past participle led someone up the garden path)
  1. (idiomatic) To deceive, hoodwink, mislead, or seduce someone. Tags: idiomatic Synonyms: lead someone down the garden path, lead someone up the garden Derived forms: garden path sentence
    Sense id: en-lead_someone_up_the_garden_path-en-verb-foQ1Eznp Categories (other): English entries with incorrect language header

Inflected forms

Download JSON data for lead someone up the garden path meaning in English (2.4kB)

{
  "etymology_text": "Probably a reference to the fact that a garden path is often winding instead of direct.",
  "forms": [
    {
      "form": "leads someone up the garden path",
      "tags": [
        "present",
        "singular",
        "third-person"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "leading someone up the garden path",
      "tags": [
        "participle",
        "present"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "led someone up the garden path",
      "tags": [
        "participle",
        "past"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "led someone up the garden path",
      "tags": [
        "past"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "head_templates": [
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "lead<,,led> someone up the garden path"
      },
      "expansion": "lead someone up the garden path (third-person singular simple present leads someone up the garden path, present participle leading someone up the garden path, simple past and past participle led someone up the garden path)",
      "name": "en-verb"
    }
  ],
  "hyphenation": [
    "lead"
  ],
  "lang": "English",
  "lang_code": "en",
  "pos": "verb",
  "senses": [
    {
      "categories": [
        {
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "English entries with incorrect language header",
          "parents": [
            "Entries with incorrect language header",
            "Entry maintenance"
          ],
          "source": "w"
        }
      ],
      "derived": [
        {
          "word": "garden path sentence"
        }
      ],
      "examples": [
        {
          "ref": "1969, Erich Kästner, translated by Cyrus Brooks, Lottie and Lisa, New York, N.Y.: Knopf, →OCLC",
          "text": "\"You're a pair of conspiring females,\" he growled. \"A fine couple of contriving minxes! You've even led my Peterkin up the garden path.\"",
          "type": "quotation"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "To deceive, hoodwink, mislead, or seduce someone."
      ],
      "id": "en-lead_someone_up_the_garden_path-en-verb-foQ1Eznp",
      "links": [
        [
          "deceive",
          "deceive"
        ],
        [
          "hoodwink",
          "hoodwink"
        ],
        [
          "mislead",
          "mislead"
        ],
        [
          "seduce",
          "seduce"
        ]
      ],
      "raw_glosses": [
        "(idiomatic) To deceive, hoodwink, mislead, or seduce someone."
      ],
      "synonyms": [
        {
          "word": "lead someone down the garden path"
        },
        {
          "word": "lead someone up the garden"
        }
      ],
      "tags": [
        "idiomatic"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "sounds": [
    {
      "ipa": "/ˈliːd ˌsʌmwʌn ˈʌp ðə ˈɡɑːdn̩ pɑːθ/",
      "tags": [
        "Received-Pronunciation"
      ]
    },
    {
      "ipa": "/ˈlid ˌsʌmwʌn ˈʌp ðə ˈɡɑɹdən ˌpæθ/",
      "tags": [
        "General-American"
      ]
    },
    {
      "audio": "En-us-lead someone up the garden path.mp3",
      "mp3_url": "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/c/ce/En-us-lead_someone_up_the_garden_path.mp3",
      "ogg_url": "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/transcoded/c/ce/En-us-lead_someone_up_the_garden_path.mp3/En-us-lead_someone_up_the_garden_path.mp3.ogg",
      "tags": [
        "General-American"
      ],
      "text": "Audio (GA)"
    }
  ],
  "word": "lead someone up the garden path"
}
{
  "derived": [
    {
      "word": "garden path sentence"
    }
  ],
  "etymology_text": "Probably a reference to the fact that a garden path is often winding instead of direct.",
  "forms": [
    {
      "form": "leads someone up the garden path",
      "tags": [
        "present",
        "singular",
        "third-person"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "leading someone up the garden path",
      "tags": [
        "participle",
        "present"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "led someone up the garden path",
      "tags": [
        "participle",
        "past"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "led someone up the garden path",
      "tags": [
        "past"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "head_templates": [
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "lead<,,led> someone up the garden path"
      },
      "expansion": "lead someone up the garden path (third-person singular simple present leads someone up the garden path, present participle leading someone up the garden path, simple past and past participle led someone up the garden path)",
      "name": "en-verb"
    }
  ],
  "hyphenation": [
    "lead"
  ],
  "lang": "English",
  "lang_code": "en",
  "pos": "verb",
  "senses": [
    {
      "categories": [
        "English entries with incorrect language header",
        "English idioms",
        "English lemmas",
        "English multiword terms",
        "English terms with IPA pronunciation",
        "English terms with audio links",
        "English terms with quotations",
        "English verbs"
      ],
      "examples": [
        {
          "ref": "1969, Erich Kästner, translated by Cyrus Brooks, Lottie and Lisa, New York, N.Y.: Knopf, →OCLC",
          "text": "\"You're a pair of conspiring females,\" he growled. \"A fine couple of contriving minxes! You've even led my Peterkin up the garden path.\"",
          "type": "quotation"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "To deceive, hoodwink, mislead, or seduce someone."
      ],
      "links": [
        [
          "deceive",
          "deceive"
        ],
        [
          "hoodwink",
          "hoodwink"
        ],
        [
          "mislead",
          "mislead"
        ],
        [
          "seduce",
          "seduce"
        ]
      ],
      "raw_glosses": [
        "(idiomatic) To deceive, hoodwink, mislead, or seduce someone."
      ],
      "synonyms": [
        {
          "word": "lead someone down the garden path"
        },
        {
          "word": "lead someone up the garden"
        }
      ],
      "tags": [
        "idiomatic"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "sounds": [
    {
      "ipa": "/ˈliːd ˌsʌmwʌn ˈʌp ðə ˈɡɑːdn̩ pɑːθ/",
      "tags": [
        "Received-Pronunciation"
      ]
    },
    {
      "ipa": "/ˈlid ˌsʌmwʌn ˈʌp ðə ˈɡɑɹdən ˌpæθ/",
      "tags": [
        "General-American"
      ]
    },
    {
      "audio": "En-us-lead someone up the garden path.mp3",
      "mp3_url": "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/c/ce/En-us-lead_someone_up_the_garden_path.mp3",
      "ogg_url": "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/transcoded/c/ce/En-us-lead_someone_up_the_garden_path.mp3/En-us-lead_someone_up_the_garden_path.mp3.ogg",
      "tags": [
        "General-American"
      ],
      "text": "Audio (GA)"
    }
  ],
  "word": "lead someone up the garden path"
}

This page is a part of the kaikki.org machine-readable English dictionary. This dictionary is based on structured data extracted on 2024-05-06 from the enwiktionary dump dated 2024-05-02 using wiktextract (f4fd8c9 and c9440ce). The data shown on this site has been post-processed and various details (e.g., extra categories) removed, some information disambiguated, and additional data merged from other sources. See the raw data download page for the unprocessed wiktextract data.

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