tie-up

[tahy-uhp]

noun

1. a temporary stoppage or slowing of business, traffic, telephone service, etc., as due to a strike, storm, or accident.

2. the act or state of tying up or the state of being tied up.

3. an involvement, connection, or entanglement.

   the tie-up between the two companies; his tie-up with the crime syndicate.

4. a mooring place; place where a boat may be tied up.

5. a cow barn with stalls.

6. a stall allotted to each cow in such a barn.

tie up

verb

1. (tr) to attach or bind securely with or as if with string, rope, etc

2. to moor (a vessel)

3. (tr; often passive) to engage the attentions of

   he's tied up at the moment and can't see you

4. (tr; often passive) to conclude (the organization of something)

   the plans for the trip were tied up well in advance

5. to come or bring to a complete standstill

6. (tr) to invest or commit (funds, etc) and so make unavailable for other uses

7. (tr) to subject (property) to conditions that prevent sale, alienation, or other action

noun

1. a link or connection

2. a standstill

3. an informal term for traffic jam

Word History and Origins

Origin of tie-up¹

First recorded in 1705–15; noun use of verb phrase tie up

Idioms and Phrases

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]

Example Sentences

The tie-up would create a copper producer with annual output of some 1.2 million metric tons and key assets in Chile, Peru and Canada.

Read more on The Wall Street Journal

Which is why the unveiling of a three-way tie-up between tech giants Nvidia and Microsoft, as well as AI start-up Anthropic, seems less than ideal.

Read more on Barron's

The Justice Department has since sought more information on the deal and a Sinclair-Scripps tie-up could face similar scrutiny.

Read more on The Wall Street Journal

Samsung and Barclays are aiming to announce the tie-up by the end of the year, though talks have missed earlier deadlines and a deal isn’t assured, the people said.

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Recording industry giant Universal Music Group said Thursday it had struck a licensing deal with AI music generation startup Udio, in an industry-first tie-up aiming to launch an AI creation platform next year.

Read more on Barron's

Related Words

• closure 
• gridlock 
• interruption 
• layoff 
• shutdown