Adjacent Words

tie up definitions

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WordNet (r) 3.0 (2005)

v
1: secure with or as if with ropes; "tie down the prisoners"; "tie up the old newspapers and bring them to the recycling shed" [syn: tie down, tie up, bind, truss]
2: invest so as to make unavailable for other purposes; "All my money is tied up in long-term investments"
3: restrain from moving or operating normally; "Traffic is tied up for miles around the bridge where the accident occurred"
4: secure in or as if in a berth or dock; "tie up the boat" [syn: moor, berth, tie up]
5: finish the last row [syn: tie up, bind off]

Merriam Webster's

verb Date: 1530 transitive verb 1. to attach, fasten, or bind securely; also to wrap up and fasten 2. a. to connect closely ; join <tie up the loose ends> b. to cause to be linked so as to depend on or relate to something 3. a. to place or invest in such a manner as to make unavailable for other purposes <their money was tied up in stocks> b. to restrain from normal movement, operation, or progress <traffic was tied up for miles> 4. a. to keep busy <was tied up in conference all day> b. to preempt the use of <tied up the phone for an hour> intransitive verb 1. dock <the ferry ties up at the south slip> 2. to assume a definite relationship <this ties up with what I told you before>

Collin's Cobuild Dictionary

1. When you tie something up, you fasten string or rope round it so that it is firm or secure. He tied up the bag and took it outside. PHRASAL VERB: V P n (not pron), also V n P 2. If someone ties another person up, they fasten ropes or chains around them so that they cannot move or escape. Masked robbers broke in, tied him up, and made off with $8,000... At about 5 a.m. they struck again in Fetcham, tying up a couple and ransacking their house. PHRASAL VERB: V n P, V P n (not pron) 3. If you tie an animal up, you fasten it to a fixed object with a piece of rope so that it cannot run away. Would you go and tie your horse up please... They dismounted, tied up their horses and gave them the grain they had brought. = tether PHRASAL VERB: V n P, V P n (not pron) 4. If you tie up an issue or problem, you deal with it in a way that gives definite conclusions or answers. Kingfisher confirmed that it hopes to tie up a deal within the next two weeks... We could have tied the whole case up without getting you and Smith shot at. PHRASAL VERB: V P n (not pron), V n P 5. see also tied up, tie-up

Soule's Dictionary of English Synonyms

Confine, restrain, hinder from motion.

Moby Thesaurus

Anschluss, act in concert, act together, addition, affiliate, affiliation, afterthought, agglomeration, agglutination, aggregation, agreement, alight, alignment, alliance, ally, amalgamate, amalgamation, anchor, articulation, assimilation, associate, association, bale, band, band together, bandage, be in league, belt, bend, bind, bind up, blend, blending, block, blockage, bond, boycott, boycottage, brace, bracketing, bridle, bundle, bundle up, bureaucratic delay, cabal, cahoots, cartel, cast anchor, centralization, chain, cinch, clog, club together, clustering, coact, coadunation, coalesce, coalescence, coalition, collaborate, colleagueship, collegialism, collegiality, collude, combination, combine, combo, come to anchor, come to land, communication, composition, comradeship, concatenation, concert, concord, concourse, concur, concurrence, confederacy, confederate, confederation, confluence, confraternity, congeries, conglomeration, conjugation, conjunction, connection, consolidate, consolidation, conspiracy, conspire, convergence, cooperate, copartnership, copartnery, copulation, corner, coupling, curb, debark, debus, delay, delayage, delayed reaction, deplane, detention, detrain, disembark, disemplane, do business with, do up, dock, double take, dragging, drop anchor, drop the hook, ecumenism, embodiment, enchain, encompassment, engross, enosis, entrammel, fasten, federalization, federate, federation, fellowship, fetter, forestall, fraternalism, fraternity, fraternization, freemasonry, fuse, fusion, gathering, get heads together, get together, gird, girdle, girt, girth, go ashore, go partners, gyve, halt, hamper, handcuff, hang together, hang-up, harmonize, hindrance, hobble, hog, hog-tie, hold together, holdup, hook up, hookup, hopple, inclusion, incorporation, integration, intercommunication, intercourse, interim, interlinking, jam, job action, join, join in, join together, joinder, joining, jointure, junction, junta, kedge, kedge off, keep together, knotting, lace, lag, lagging, land, lash, lash and tie, lay anchor, league, league together, leash, liaison, linkage, linking, lockout, logjam, make a landfall, make common cause, make fast, make land, make port, manacle, marriage, meeting, meld, melding, merge, merger, merging, monopolize, moor, moratorium, obstruction, outlaw strike, pack, package, package deal, pairing, paperasserie, parcel, partner, partnership, pause, peg down, picket, pin down, pinion, play ball, pull together, put heads together, put in, put in irons, put into port, reach land, reciprocate, red tape, red-tapeism, red-tapery, reprieve, respite, restrain, retardance, retardation, revolt, roll up, rope, rulebook slowdown, secure, shackle, sick-in, sit-down, sit-down strike, slow-up, slowdown, slowness, sodality, solidification, sorority, splice, stand together, stay, stay of execution, stop, stoppage, straitjacket, strap, strike, suspension, swaddle, swathe, symbiosis, sympathy strike, syncretism, syndication, syneresis, synthesis, take it all, team up, tether, throw in together, tie, tie down, tie in, tie-in, time lag, trammel, truss, truss up, turnout, unboat, unification, union, unite, unite efforts, wait, walkout, wedding, wildcat strike, wire, work stoppage, work together, wrap, wrap up, yoking