have the whip hand



have/hold the whip hand

to be the person or group that has the most power in a situation So long as we rely on them for money, they have the whip hand.
See knock into shape, crack the whip
See also: hand, have, whip

Common Names:

NameGenderPronouncedUsage
Tighe-Irish
Daliborka-Croatian, Serbian, Slovene
Eidel-Yiddish
Theodoard-Ancient Germanic
Heli (2)HE-leeFinnish
Lesya-Ukrainian