a temporary stoppage or slowing of business, traffic, telephone service, etc., as due to a strike, storm, or accident.
the act or state of tying up or the state of being tied up.
an involvement, connection, or entanglement.
the tie-up between the two companies; his tie-up with the crime syndicate.
a mooring place; place where a boat may be tied up.
a cow barn with stalls.
a stall allotted to each cow in such a barn.
(tr) to attach or bind securely with or as if with string, rope, etc
to moor (a vessel)
(tr; often passive) to engage the attentions of
he's tied up at the moment and can't see you
(tr; often passive) to conclude (the organization of something)
the plans for the trip were tied up well in advance
to come or bring to a complete standstill
(tr) to invest or commit (funds, etc) and so make unavailable for other uses
(tr) to subject (property) to conditions that prevent sale, alienation, or other action
a link or connection
a standstill
an informal term for traffic jam
Fasten securely; also, moor a ship. For example, Can you help me tie up these bundles? or The forecast was terrible, so we decided to tie up at the dock and wait out the storm . The first usage dates from the early 1500s, the nautical usage from the mid-1800s.
Impede the progress of, block, as in The accident tied up traffic for hours . [Late 1500s]
Keep occupied, engage, as in She was tied up in a meeting all morning . [Late 1800s]
Make funds or property inaccessible for other uses, as in Her cash is tied up in government bonds . [Early 1800s]
First recorded in 1705–15; noun use of verb phrase tie up
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
The tie-up between Blackstone, the largest alternative-asset manager, and two big traditional asset managers represents Wall Street’s latest push to get investments such as private equity and private credit into the hands of individuals.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 22, 2026
Mistral told AFP that the tie-up "gives us greater visibility to speed up the financing and development of Mistral Compute", its cloud and AI infrastructure business.
From Barron's ● Jul. 21, 2026
The Takeda tie-up adds to InSilico’s collaborations, including deals with Eli Lilly for up to $2.75 billion and SK Biopharmaceuticals.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 1, 2026
Its tie-up with SpaceX comes as Musk's company tries to catch up with rivals by growing its AI business, xAI, which is behind the controversial Grok chatbot.
From BBC ● Jun. 16, 2026
They especially don’t like strangers near the tie-up when they’re about to be milked.
From "Orbiting Jupiter" by Gary D. Schmidt
The states are expected to seek a preliminary injunction, which would tie up Paramount’s merger for months.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 22, 2026
Back-to-back wins mean it looks increasingly likely Leeds will avoid the drop, so boss Daniel Farke will have to tie up a few loose ends with his goalkeepers.
From BBC ● Apr. 21, 2026
The Amazon-Globalstar tie up is mixed news for Iridium and AST SpaceMobile.
From Barron's ● Apr. 14, 2026
Giant food mergers often don’t work, but the McCormick-Unilever tie up could prove to be an exception.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Apr. 8, 2026
Still, traffic could tie up in cities when every one was awake.
From "A Farewell To Arms" by Ernest Hemingway
Big corporate tie-ups are always delicate affairs, involving integrating systems, replacing signs and branding and making sure a newly combined workforce gets along.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 6, 2026
The tie-ups were unveiled after CEO Jensen Huang spent the weekend eating barbecue in Seoul with the country's tech leaders and appearing on a popular TV show.
From Barron's ● Jun. 8, 2026
Elliott’s intervention follows decades of dealmaking and investor agitation involving LSEG, including failed tie-ups with exchange operators in Canada, Germany and Hong Kong, and the purchase of Bloomberg competitor Refinitiv.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Feb. 11, 2026
Ferguson continued to chase brand endorsements and other moneymaking deals, including tie-ups with the US retail giant Target and the cruise line Cunard.
From BBC ● Feb. 11, 2026
That afternoon, when Mr. Zuckerman went to milk the cows and clean out the tie-ups, he was still thinking about what a wondrous pig he owned.
From "Charlotte's Web" by E.B. White
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
