RED HERRING • E-FREE TRANSLATION.COM • Definition of Red herring

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/rɛd hˈɛrɪŋ/ Listen

Red herring

noun

Any diversion intended to distract attention from the main issue.

A dried and smoked herring having a reddish color. Synonym: smoked herring.

A first draft of a prospectus; must be clearly marked to indicate that parts may be changed in the final prospectus. Synonym: preliminary prospectus.

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Etymology of 'Red herring'

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"Red herring" Quotes from Famous Books

... the directive saw the whole controversy over (p. 550) sanctions as a red herring dragged across the path of a genuine equal treatment and opportunity program.[21-70] During congressional debate on the directive, the use of off-limits sanctions quickly became the respectable issue behind which those opposed to any reform could rally. The Senate ...

— Integration of the Armed Forces, 1940-1965 • Morris J. MacGregor Jr.

... The whole of the money not expended for us at market was twopence a week for each man. I remember, and well I may! that upon one occasion I had, after all absolutely necessary expenses, made shift to have a half-penny in reserve, which I had destined for the purpose of a red herring in the morning, but so hungry as to be hardly able to endure life, when I pulled off my clothes at night, I found that I had lost my half-penny. I buried my head in the miserable sheet and rug, and cried ...

— Pushing to the Front • Orison Swett Marden

Words linked to "Red herring" : course catalogue, course catalog, divagation, prospectus, deflection, deviation, deflexion, diversion, digression, herring