tie

plural ties

1. A knot; a fastening.
2. A knot of hair, as at the back of a wig.
3. A necktie (item of clothing consisting of a strip of cloth tied around the neck). See also bow tie, black tie.

   Synonyms: necktie

4. A lace-up shoe.

   Oxford ties; Derby ties

   1 more example

   […] the tip of her russet boot almost grazed that of his Oxford tie.

   1919, Henry B[lake] Fuller, “Cope Makes a Sunday Afternoon Call”, in Bertram Cope’s Year: A Novel, Chicago, Ill.: Ralph Fletcher Seymour, The Alderbrink Press, →OCLC, page 24

5. A twist tie, a piece of wire embedded in paper, strip of plastic with ratchets, or similar object which is wound around something and tightened.
6. A connection between people or groups of people, especially a strong connection.

   the sacred ties of friendship or of duty

   5 more examples

   the ties of allegiance; the ties that bind

   Occasions that reinforce the ties of kindred.

   No distance breaks the tie of blood.

   1866, Charlotte Mary Yonge, The Prince and the Page

   In most states the court view is that if a person rents (and particularly if it is only a room), does not have a car, does not live within a nuclear family unit, is not established in full-time employment, then that person is considered to be without ties and an itinerant and therefore ought not to be granted bail.

   1983 December 31, Gary Phillips, “Gays in Gaol [Jail]: Who Cares”, in Gay Community News, volume 11, number 24, page 15

   The film ends with the colorful deaths of Nico's enemies after he thwarts their attempts to assassinate a U.S. Senator investigating ties between drug dealers and the CIA.

   2004, Peter Bondanella, chapter 4, in Hollywood Italians: Dagos, Palookas, Romeos, Wise Guys, and Sopranos, pages 231–232

   Synonyms: bond

7. businessA structural member firmly holding two pieces together.

   Ties work to maintain structural integrity in windstorms and earthquakes.

8. USrail transportA horizontal wooden or concrete structural member that supports and ties together rails.

   Synonyms: sleeper

9. The situation in which two or more participants in a competition are placed equally.

   It's two outs in the bottom of the ninth, tie score.

   Synonyms: draw

10. ball gamesThe situation at the end of all innings of a match where both sides have the same total of runs (different from a draw).
11. UShobbiesAn equalizer, a run, goal, point, etc which causes participants in a competition to be placed equally or have the same score(s).

    I thought José was still a point down. I thought he needed another takedown to tie and pull ahead, so I ordered José to let his man up. I looked up too late, realizing that José already scored a tie. By that point, the New Jersey champion got his ...

    2010, Scott Glabb, A Saint in the City: Coaching At-risk Kids to Be Champions, Tate Publishing, →ISBN, page 146

    1 more example

    […] game in the championships shouldering a vast disadvantage and was in due course defeated by Egyetértés, one of the newcomers in the first league. Eger, the other novice in the championships, also took off successfully scoring a tie with the Ruha ETO.

    1971, Budapress News Service, Budapress Bulletin, volume 10, issues 27-52, page 8

12. UKhobbiesA meeting between two players or teams in a competition.

    The FA Cup third round tie between Liverpool and Cardiff was their first meeting in the competition since 1957.

13. entertainmentA curved line connecting two notes of the same pitch denoting that they should be played as a single note with the combined length of both notes.
14. phonetictranscriptionA curved line connecting two letters (⁀), used in the IPA to denote a coarticulation, as for example /d͡ʒ/.

    Wikipedia: tie (typography)

15. mathematicsOne or more equal values or sets of equal values in the data set.
16. geographyA bearing and distance between a lot corner or point and a benchmark or iron off site.
17. graph theoryA connection between two vertices.
18. A tiewig.

    [H]e ordered his boarders and apartments to be dished out for the occasion, spared no pains in adorning his own person, and in particular employed a whole hour in adjusting a voluminous tye, in which he proposed to make his appearance.

    1751, [Tobias] Smollett, The Adventures of Peregrine Pickle […], volume (please specify |volume=I to IV), London: Harrison and Co., […], →OCLC

present singular third person ties · participle present tying · participle past tied · past tied

1. transitiveTo twist (a string, rope, or the like) around itself securely.

   Tie the rope to this tree.

   1 more example

   Tie this rope in a knot for me, please.

2. transitiveTo form (a knot or the like) in a string or the like.

   Tie a knot in this rope for me, please.

3. transitiveTo attach or fasten (one thing to another) by string or the like.

   Tie him to the tree.

   1 more example

   In bond of virtuous love together tied.

   1600, [Torquato Tasso], “(please specify |book=1 to 20)”, in Edward Fairefax [i.e., Edward Fairfax], transl., Godfrey of Bulloigne, or The Recouerie of Ierusalem. […], London: […] Ar[nold] Hatfield, for I[saac] Iaggard and M[atthew] Lownes, →OCLC

4. figurativelysometimestransitiveTo secure (something) by string or the like.

   Tie your shoes.

   1 more example

   Not tied to rules of policy, you find / Revenge less sweet than a forgiving mind.

   1660, [John] Dryden, Astraea Redux

5. ambitransitiveTo have the same score or position as another in a competition or ordering.

   They tied the game.

   1 more example

   They tied for third place.

6. UStransitiveTo have the same score or position as (another) in a competition or ordering.

   He tied me for third place.

7. entertainmentTo unite (musical notes) with a line or slur in the notation.
8. UScolloquialdatedTo believe; to credit.

   […] It seems they have sort of betrothal teas — can you tie it?" "Heavens!" said Mary […]

   1929, Collier's, volume 84, page 56

   1 more example

   As the door slammed Pete turned to Hally, fuming. "Can you tie that? A little twopenny cold frightening him off."

   1940, Woman's Home Companion, volume 67, numbers 1-4, page 134

9. transitivecomputingIn the Perl programming language, to extend (a variable) so that standard operations performed upon it invoke custom functionality instead.

   So, a class for tying a hash to an ISAM implementation might provide an extra method to traverse a set of keys sequentially (the “S” of ISAM), since your typical DBM implementation can't do that.

   2000, Larry Wall, Tom Christiansen, Jon Orwant, Programming Perl: 3rd Edition, page 814