Burying the ‘lede’ "Bury the lede" comes from journalism, meaning to hide the most important information (the "lede") by putting it later in a story, rather than upfront; the word "lede" is an altered spelling of "lead" (the intro paragraph) to avoid confusion with "lead" (the metal) used in printing, a practice that began in the mid-20th century. The term describes delaying the crucial point, whether intentionally for suspense or humor, or accidentally, and is now used in general writing to mea