| red herr | In order to distract the others, we brought up this irrelevant issue as a red herring. |
| red herr | The police followed a red herring while they let the true criminal escape. |
| red herring | (n) any diversion intended to distract attention from the main issue |
| red herring | (n) a dried and smoked herring having a reddish color, Syn. smoked herring |