tie in knots

• tie up in knots

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tie in knots (third-person singular simple present ties in knots, present participle tying in knots, simple past and past participle tied in knots)

1. (transitive, idiomatic) To put (someone) in a difficult situation.
   • 2021 March 14, Ed Pilkington, “A year of living dangerously: how Andrew Cuomo fell from grace”, in The Observer‎:

     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.

2. (transitive, idiomatic) To make (someone) upset or anxious.

• “tie someone (up) in knots”, in Cambridge English Dictionary, Cambridge, Cambridgeshire: Cambridge University Press, 1999–present.