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
Larkin	LAHR-kin	Medieval English
Sveta	-	Russian
Sylvia	SIL-vee-ə (English), SUYL-vee-ah (Finnish)	English, Swedish, Norwegian, Danish, Finnish, German
Mats	-	Swedish, Norwegian
Sumayya	-	Arabic
SalİH	-	Turkish