keep (someone) under (one's) thumb

To maintain authoritarian control over someone; to continually force someone to submit to one's will. They seem happy when they're out and about, but I hear that Johnny keeps his husband under his thumb at home. Although the job was well paying, I couldn't stand the way the boss kept me under his thumb.

Common Names:

Name	Pronounced	Usage
Charlotta	shah-LOT-ah	Swedish
Lyle	LIE-əl, LIEL	English
Tariro	-	Southern African, Shona
Giorgi	-	Georgian
Blue	[blu:]
Magdalena	mahg-dah-LE-nah (Polish), mahk-dah-LE-nah (German), MAHG-dah-le-nah (Finnish), mag-da-LAY-na (English)	Polish, German, Dutch, Swedish, Norwegian, Danish, Spanish, Occitan, Slovene, Czech, Bulgarian, Mace