Red herring Meaning, Definition & Usage
-
noun any diversion intended to distract attention from the main issue
-
noun a dried and smoked herring having a reddish color
smoked herring.
-
noun a first draft of a prospectus; must be clearly marked to indicate that parts may be changed in the final prospectus
preliminary prospectus.
- because some portions of the cover page are printed in red ink a preliminary prospectus is sometimes called a red herring
WordNet
Definitions
- the common herring dried and smoked.
Fig. something that merely distracts attention from the basic issue; esp. something irrelevant to the issue at hand, or something which is not true or does not exist.
