37 Moby Thesaurus words for "lead by the nose": affect, bend, bestride, bias, color, dictate, dispose, dominate, have subject, have the ascendancy, hypnotize, incline, induce, influence, lead, make putty of, master, mesmerize, move, persuade, play first fiddle, predispose, predominate, preponderate, prevail, prompt, rule the roost, soften up, sway, take the lead, tinge, tone, twist, wear down, wear the pants, weigh with, work

Source: Moby Thesaurus II by Grady Ward, 1.0
 

lead by the nose v : conceal one's true motives from especially by elaborately feigning good intentions so as to gain an end; "He bamboozled his professors into thinking that he knew the subject well" [syn: bamboozle, snow, hoodwink, pull the wool over someone's eyes, play false]

Source: WordNet (r) 2.0