1. confuse or deceive somebody to prevent them from discovering something
Professional
Social
throw somebody off the scent by telling them a lie
The idiom 'to throw someone off the scent' means to confuse or deceive someone in order to make them believe something is not true, or to misdirect someone in order to prevent them from achieving their objective. You will often hear this idiom used in relation to investigations where police are misled by false information.