"tie in knots" meaning in English

{
  "forms": [
    {
      "form": "ties in knots",
      "tags": [
        "present",
        "singular",
        "third-person"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "tying in knots",
      "tags": [
        "participle",
        "present"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "tied in knots",
      "tags": [
        "participle",
        "past"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "tied in knots",
      "tags": [
        "past"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "head_templates": [
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "*"
      },
      "expansion": "tie in knots (third-person singular simple present ties in knots, present participle tying in knots, simple past and past participle tied in knots)",
      "name": "en-verb"
    }
  ],
  "lang": "English",
  "lang_code": "en",
  "pos": "verb",
  "senses": [
    {
      "categories": [
        {
          "_dis": "62 38",
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "English entries with incorrect language header",
          "parents": [
            "Entries with incorrect language header",
            "Entry maintenance"
          ],
          "source": "w+disamb"
        },
        {
          "_dis": "75 25",
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "Pages with 1 entry",
          "parents": [],
          "source": "w+disamb"
        },
        {
          "_dis": "85 15",
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "Pages with entries",
          "parents": [],
          "source": "w+disamb"
        }
      ],
      "examples": [
        {
          "ref": "2021 March 14, Ed Pilkington, “A year of living dangerously: how Andrew Cuomo fell from grace”, in The Observer:",
          "text": "That is where [Andrew] Cuomo’s unravelling began, with the revelation – admitted in part by his top aide, Melissa DeRosa, to state lawmakers – that the administration suppressed the number of nursing home deaths by several thousand in order to avoid a federal inquiry. DeRosa claimed the move was made to avoid Donald Trump tying them up in knots, but it sounded suspiciously like a cover-up.",
          "type": "quote"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "To put (someone) in a difficult situation."
      ],
      "id": "en-tie_in_knots-en-verb-IBTMNCN4",
      "links": [
        [
          "put",
          "put"
        ],
        [
          "difficult",
          "difficult"
        ],
        [
          "situation",
          "situation"
        ]
      ],
      "raw_glosses": [
        "(transitive, idiomatic) To put (someone) in a difficult situation."
      ],
      "related": [
        {
          "_dis1": "72 28",
          "word": "in knots"
        },
        {
          "_dis1": "72 28",
          "word": "tied in knots"
        },
        {
          "_dis1": "72 28",
          "word": "tie oneself in knots"
        }
      ],
      "synonyms": [
        {
          "_dis1": "72 28",
          "word": "tie up in knots"
        }
      ],
      "tags": [
        "idiomatic",
        "transitive"
      ]
    },
    {
      "categories": [],
      "glosses": [
        "To make (someone) upset or anxious."
      ],
      "id": "en-tie_in_knots-en-verb-opyIWlzw",
      "links": [
        [
          "make",
          "make"
        ],
        [
          "upset",
          "upset"
        ],
        [
          "anxious",
          "anxious"
        ]
      ],
      "raw_glosses": [
        "(transitive, idiomatic) To make (someone) upset or anxious."
      ],
      "tags": [
        "idiomatic",
        "transitive"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "sounds": [
    {
      "audio": "LL-Q1860 (eng)-Flame, not lame-tie in knots.wav",
      "mp3_url": "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/transcoded/3/31/LL-Q1860_%28eng%29-Flame%2C_not_lame-tie_in_knots.wav/LL-Q1860_%28eng%29-Flame%2C_not_lame-tie_in_knots.wav.mp3",
      "ogg_url": "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/transcoded/3/31/LL-Q1860_%28eng%29-Flame%2C_not_lame-tie_in_knots.wav/LL-Q1860_%28eng%29-Flame%2C_not_lame-tie_in_knots.wav.ogg"
    }
  ],
  "word": "tie in knots"
}

{
  "categories": [
    "English entries with incorrect language header",
    "English lemmas",
    "English multiword terms",
    "English verbs",
    "Pages with 1 entry",
    "Pages with entries"
  ],
  "forms": [
    {
      "form": "ties in knots",
      "tags": [
        "present",
        "singular",
        "third-person"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "tying in knots",
      "tags": [
        "participle",
        "present"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "tied in knots",
      "tags": [
        "participle",
        "past"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "tied in knots",
      "tags": [
        "past"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "head_templates": [
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "*"
      },
      "expansion": "tie in knots (third-person singular simple present ties in knots, present participle tying in knots, simple past and past participle tied in knots)",
      "name": "en-verb"
    }
  ],
  "lang": "English",
  "lang_code": "en",
  "pos": "verb",
  "related": [
    {
      "word": "in knots"
    },
    {
      "word": "tied in knots"
    },
    {
      "word": "tie oneself in knots"
    }
  ],
  "senses": [
    {
      "categories": [
        "English idioms",
        "English terms with quotations",
        "English transitive verbs"
      ],
      "examples": [
        {
          "ref": "2021 March 14, Ed Pilkington, “A year of living dangerously: how Andrew Cuomo fell from grace”, in The Observer:",
          "text": "That is where [Andrew] Cuomo’s unravelling began, with the revelation – admitted in part by his top aide, Melissa DeRosa, to state lawmakers – that the administration suppressed the number of nursing home deaths by several thousand in order to avoid a federal inquiry. DeRosa claimed the move was made to avoid Donald Trump tying them up in knots, but it sounded suspiciously like a cover-up.",
          "type": "quote"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "To put (someone) in a difficult situation."
      ],
      "links": [
        [
          "put",
          "put"
        ],
        [
          "difficult",
          "difficult"
        ],
        [
          "situation",
          "situation"
        ]
      ],
      "raw_glosses": [
        "(transitive, idiomatic) To put (someone) in a difficult situation."
      ],
      "tags": [
        "idiomatic",
        "transitive"
      ]
    },
    {
      "categories": [
        "English idioms",
        "English transitive verbs"
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "To make (someone) upset or anxious."
      ],
      "links": [
        [
          "make",
          "make"
        ],
        [
          "upset",
          "upset"
        ],
        [
          "anxious",
          "anxious"
        ]
      ],
      "raw_glosses": [
        "(transitive, idiomatic) To make (someone) upset or anxious."
      ],
      "tags": [
        "idiomatic",
        "transitive"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "sounds": [
    {
      "audio": "LL-Q1860 (eng)-Flame, not lame-tie in knots.wav",
      "mp3_url": "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/transcoded/3/31/LL-Q1860_%28eng%29-Flame%2C_not_lame-tie_in_knots.wav/LL-Q1860_%28eng%29-Flame%2C_not_lame-tie_in_knots.wav.mp3",
      "ogg_url": "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/transcoded/3/31/LL-Q1860_%28eng%29-Flame%2C_not_lame-tie_in_knots.wav/LL-Q1860_%28eng%29-Flame%2C_not_lame-tie_in_knots.wav.ogg"
    }
  ],
  "synonyms": [
    {
      "word": "tie up in knots"
    }
  ],
  "word": "tie in knots"
}