to throw off the scent
verb/dɨʃpiʃˈtaɾ/medium
des·pis·tar
Definitions
1To cause to lose the trail; to mislead or deceive in order to evade pursuit or discovery.
The fugitive tried to throw the police off his scent by taking several detours.
False information was used to throw off the investigators.
Common collocations
to throw off the policeto throw off pursuers
2To divert someone's attention from something.
He tried to distract the conversation to avoid the topic.
Don't let yourself be distracted by the details.
Common collocations
to distract attention
Etymology
Derivado de 'pista', do francês 'piste', com o prefixo 'des-'.