tie one's hands

Prevent one from acting, as in I can't help you this time; my hands are tied by the club's rules. This metaphoric term transfers physical bondage to other kinds of constraint. It was first recorded in 1642.

Common Names:

Name	Pronounced	Usage
Cirino	chee-REE-no (Italian), thee-REE-no (Spanish), see-REE-no (Latin American Spanish)	Italian, Spanish
Darby	DAHR-bee	English
Raginald	-	Ancient Germanic
Jahan	-	Persian
Arundhati	-	Hinduism, Indian, Hindi
Marijan	-	Croatian, Slovene