put (an animal) off the/someone's scent

idiom

: to cause (an animal) to lose the smell of an animal or person it has been following by sensing the animal's or person's smell

We swam across the stream in order to put the dog off our scent.

—often used figuratively

He was being investigated by federal officials but he somehow managed to put them off the/his scent.

Examples of put (an animal) off the/someone's scent in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web

Later, the hunting Sephora will, too, be put off the scent by the captain. —David Bahr, Forbes, 31 July 2022