TIE UP

Pronunciation (US):

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IPA (US):

 Dictionary entry overview: What does tie up mean? 

• TIE UP (verb)
  The verb TIE UP has 5 senses:

1. secure with or as if with ropes

2. invest so as to make unavailable for other purposes

3. restrain from moving or operating normally

4. secure in or as if in a berth or dock

5. finish the last row

  Familiarity information: TIE UP used as a verb is common.

 Dictionary entry details 

• TIE UP (verb)

Sense 1

Meaning:

Secure with or as if with ropes

Classified under:

Verbs of touching, hitting, tying, digging

Synonyms:

bind; tie down; tie up; truss

Context example:

tie up the old newspapers and bring them to the recycling shed

Hypernyms (to "tie up" is one way to...):

confine; constrain; hold; restrain (to close within bounds, or otherwise limit or deprive of free movement)

"Tie up" entails doing...:

fasten; fix; secure (cause to be firmly attached)

Troponyms (each of the following is one way to "tie up"):

chain up (tie up with chains)

faggot; faggot up; fagot (bind or tie up in or as if in a faggot)

faggot; fagot (fasten together rods of iron in order to heat or weld them)

hog-tie (tie together somebody's limbs)

Sentence frames:

Somebody ----s something
Somebody ----s somebody

Sentence example:

They want to tie up the prisoners

Sense 2

Meaning:

Invest so as to make unavailable for other purposes

Classified under:

Verbs of buying, selling, owning

Context example:

All my money is tied up in long-term investments

Hypernyms (to "tie up" is one way to...):

commit; invest; place; put (make an investment)

Sentence frame:

Somebody ----s something

Sense 3

Meaning:

Restrain from moving or operating normally

Classified under:

Verbs of touching, hitting, tying, digging

Context example:

Traffic is tied up for miles around the bridge where the accident occurred

Hypernyms (to "tie up" is one way to...):

block; close up; impede; jam; obstruct; obturate; occlude (block passage through)

Sentence frames:

Somebody ----s something
Something ----s something

Derivation:

tie-up (an interruption of normal activity)

Sense 4

Meaning:

Secure in or as if in a berth or dock

Classified under:

Verbs of touching, hitting, tying, digging

Synonyms:

berth; moor; tie up

Context example:

tie up the boat

Hypernyms (to "tie up" is one way to...):

fasten; fix; secure (cause to be firmly attached)

Troponyms (each of the following is one way to "tie up"):

wharf (moor at a wharf)

Sentence frame:

Somebody ----s something

Sense 5

Meaning:

Finish the last row

Classified under:

Verbs of touching, hitting, tying, digging

Synonyms:

bind off; tie up

Hypernyms (to "tie up" is one way to...):

bind; tie (fasten or secure with a rope, string, or cord)

Domain category:

knit; knitting; knitwork (needlework created by interlacing yarn in a series of connected loops using straight eyeless needles or by machine)

Sentence frame:

Somebody ----s something

 Context examples 

But first of all, we've got to tie up Dennin so he can't escape.

(Love of Life and Other Stories, by Jack London)

I tell ye that when they got here they'd be jommlin' an' jostlin' one another that way that it 'ud be like a fight up on the ice in the old days, when we'd be at one another from daylight to dark, an' tryin' to tie up our cuts by the light of the aurora borealis." This was evidently local pleasantry, for the old man cackled over it, and his cronies joined in with gusto.

(Dracula, by Bram Stoker)