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Phrase(s): put someone off the scent
Fig. to distract someone or a group from following a scent or trail. (From put a dog off the scent; the scent or trail can be purely figurative. (See also put someone off the track.) • The clever maneuvers of the bandits put the sheriff ’s posse off the scent. • The mob laundered the drug money to try to put investigators off the trail.
McGrawhill's American Idioms And Phrasal Verbs