1
: a slowdown or stoppage of traffic, business, or operation (as by a mechanical breakdown)
2
: connection, association
helpful financial tie-ups
3
a
: a cow stable
also
: a space for a single cow in a stable
b
: a mooring place for a boat
tied up; tying up or tieing up; ties up
1
: to attach, fasten, or bind securely
also
: to wrap up and fasten
2
a
: to connect closely : join
tie up the loose ends
b
: to cause to be linked so as to depend on or relate to something
3
a
: to place or invest in such a manner as to make unavailable for other purposes
their money was tied up in stocks
b
: to restrain from normal movement, operation, or progress
traffic was tied up for miles
4
a
: to keep busy
was tied up in conference all day
b
: to preempt the use of
tied up the phone for an hour
1
: dock entry 2
the ferry ties up at the south slip
2
: to assume a definite relationship
this ties up with what I told you before
Synonyms
Examples of tie-up in a Sentence
Verb
an accident is tying up traffic at 5th and Broadway
Recent Examples on the Web
Melvin Backman, Quartz, 8 Apr. 2024
The two companies had once planned for a $3.8 billion merger, but a federal judge blocked the tie-up.
—Melvin Backman, Quartz, 29 Mar. 2024
On Monday, the company said talks for a strategic tie-up had not proved fruitful and the New York Stock Exchange moved to delist its stock, which collapsed and closed Wednesday at 2 cents per share.
—Laurence Darmiento, Los Angeles Times, 28 Mar. 2024
Part of that could be because of traffic tie-ups on the Interstate 95 corridor, a major artery for traffic along the East Coast.
—Mark Thompson, CNN, 27 Mar. 2024
The shooting caused major traffic tie-ups Thursday morning, which cleared up by the afternoon rush hour.
—Omar Rodríguez Ortiz, Miami Herald, 22 Mar. 2024
Klarna recently said its tie-up with OpenAI to use artificial intelligence across the company had led to advances in customer service that could replace workers.
—Aisha S Gani, Fortune Europe, 8 Mar. 2024
But while JPMorgan’s top boss seems fine with the tie-up of Capital One and Discover, lawmakers are fiercely opposed to the proposal.
—Marco Quiroz-Gutierrez, Fortune, 27 Feb. 2024
Unions — the Teamsters and the United Food and Commercial Workers International — have expressed concerns about the tie-up.
—Alina Selyukh, NPR, 26 Feb. 2024
Ann Powers, NPR, 19 Apr. 2024
Roughly 40% of Maui County’s firefighting resources were already tied up fighting other wildfires on a different part of the island.
—Jennifer Sinco Kelleher, Rebecca Boone, The Christian Science Monitor, 18 Apr. 2024
In other stock news, Salesforce and Informatica investors aren’t thrilled about the companies’ potential tie up.
—Morgan Haefner, Quartz, 16 Apr. 2024
Rain and slick roads Thursday led to dozens of car crashes throughout metro Detroit, including one that in the morning that was fatal and another before noon that involved a semi-trunk and tied up traffic on Interstate 696 for hours.
—Detroit Free Press, 12 Apr. 2024
Her hair, which had been tied up earlier in the day, was was let loose and styled with a flawless blow-out.
—Valentine Servant-Ulgu, Glamour, 6 Apr. 2024
That caper, during which five armed robbers in black clothing and masks tied up a handful of workers at the depot, was planned with the help of a former employee at the facility.
—Sean Murphy, Fortune, 5 Apr. 2024
The theory is that Americans would be too tied up worrying about their own supplies of electricity, food and water to help a distant island that Beijing claims as its own.
—Mark Landler, New York Times, 25 Mar. 2024
President Joe Biden's campaign on Saturday excoriated former President Donald Trump for sharing a video on social media depicting what appears to be an image of Biden tied up and kidnapped in the back of a pickup truck.
—Fritz Farrow, ABC News, 30 Mar. 2024
Noun
Spirit and JetBlue have mutually agreed to call off their $3.8 billion merger last month after a federal judge blocked the tie-up on antitrust grounds in January, suggesting that two airlines becoming one would offer fliers too few choices.
—Melvin Backman, Quartz, 8 Apr. 2024
The two companies had once planned for a $3.8 billion merger, but a federal judge blocked the tie-up.
—Melvin Backman, Quartz, 29 Mar. 2024
On Monday, the company said talks for a strategic tie-up had not proved fruitful and the New York Stock Exchange moved to delist its stock, which collapsed and closed Wednesday at 2 cents per share.
—Laurence Darmiento, Los Angeles Times, 28 Mar. 2024
Part of that could be because of traffic tie-ups on the Interstate 95 corridor, a major artery for traffic along the East Coast.
—Mark Thompson, CNN, 27 Mar. 2024
The shooting caused major traffic tie-ups Thursday morning, which cleared up by the afternoon rush hour.
—Omar Rodríguez Ortiz, Miami Herald, 22 Mar. 2024
Klarna recently said its tie-up with OpenAI to use artificial intelligence across the company had led to advances in customer service that could replace workers.
—Aisha S Gani, Fortune Europe, 8 Mar. 2024
But while JPMorgan’s top boss seems fine with the tie-up of Capital One and Discover, lawmakers are fiercely opposed to the proposal.
—Marco Quiroz-Gutierrez, Fortune, 27 Feb. 2024
Unions — the Teamsters and the United Food and Commercial Workers International — have expressed concerns about the tie-up.
—Alina Selyukh, NPR, 26 Feb. 2024
Verb
Swift's artistry is tied up in her deployment of celebrity, a slippery state in which a real life becomes emblematic.
—Ann Powers, NPR, 19 Apr. 2024
Roughly 40% of Maui County’s firefighting resources were already tied up fighting other wildfires on a different part of the island.
—Jennifer Sinco Kelleher, Rebecca Boone, The Christian Science Monitor, 18 Apr. 2024
In other stock news, Salesforce and Informatica investors aren’t thrilled about the companies’ potential tie up.
—Morgan Haefner, Quartz, 16 Apr. 2024
Rain and slick roads Thursday led to dozens of car crashes throughout metro Detroit, including one that in the morning that was fatal and another before noon that involved a semi-trunk and tied up traffic on Interstate 696 for hours.
—Detroit Free Press, 12 Apr. 2024
Her hair, which had been tied up earlier in the day, was was let loose and styled with a flawless blow-out.
—Valentine Servant-Ulgu, Glamour, 6 Apr. 2024
That caper, during which five armed robbers in black clothing and masks tied up a handful of workers at the depot, was planned with the help of a former employee at the facility.
—Sean Murphy, Fortune, 5 Apr. 2024
The theory is that Americans would be too tied up worrying about their own supplies of electricity, food and water to help a distant island that Beijing claims as its own.
—Mark Landler, New York Times, 25 Mar. 2024
President Joe Biden's campaign on Saturday excoriated former President Donald Trump for sharing a video on social media depicting what appears to be an image of Biden tied up and kidnapped in the back of a pickup truck.
—Fritz Farrow, ABC News, 30 Mar. 2024
These examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'tie-up.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.
Dictionary Entries Near tie-up
Cite this Entry
“Tie-up.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/tie-up. Accessed 24 Apr. 2024.
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