bound hand and foot

Idioms  

1. Wholly obligated, unable to free oneself. For example, These rules have us bound hand and foot; we can't even discuss the matter. This term transfers the literal meaning, having one's hands and feet tied and therefore unable to move, to legal, moral, or social obligations. The expression dates from the 10th century a.d.

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Example Sentences

“We are not allowed to throw a punch until we get hit. In any emergency, we are bound hand and foot because we set advanced limits on ourselves about when to respond.”

From Washington Post • Apr. 15, 2023

"We should not just sit and watch domestic defense production bases and technological platforms deteriorate in a situation in which we are bound hand and foot," it quoted him as saying.

From Reuters • Oct. 11, 2010

“That is what the audience says when a person bound hand and foot is shut into a cabinet—and disappears.”

From "Murder on the Orient Express" by Agatha Christie

And Neleus for a year’s term sequestered Melampous’ fields and flocks, while he lay bound hand and foot in the keep of Phylakos.

From "The Odyssey" by Homer

Poor France cannot well be otherwise than tranquil, for Mr. Leech depicts her bound hand and foot, a chain-shot fastened to her feet and a sentry standing guard over her with a bayonet.

From The History of the Nineteenth Century in Caricature by Cooper, Frederic Taber