string along
verb1
Idiomatic To keep somebody falsely believing that one has certain intentions.
- She's been telling me for ages that she wants to meet up, but won't give me a date. I'm convinced she's stringing me along.
- What irks is the DfT's response of stringing the industry along. Far better would be for the DfT to say: "No, we are not upgrading this or that part of the railway - we must make the best of what we have."2021 May 5, Philip Haigh, “I think we need better than this from the rail industry”, in RAIL, number 930, page 51: