Brewer's: Lead

(pronounced lêd), the metal, was, by the ancient alchemists, called Saturn. (Anglo-Saxon, lead.)

To strike lead.
To make a good hit.

“That, after the failure of the king, he should `strike lead' in his own house seemed ... an inevitable law” —Bret Harte Foot of Five Forks

Lead

(pronounce leed). (Anglo-Saxon laed-an.)

To lead apes in hell.
(See Apes.) To lead by the nose. (See under Nose.) To lead one a pretty dance. (See under Dance.)
Source: Dictionary of Phrase and Fable, E. Cobham Brewer, 1894
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