Meanings
plural tie-ups
- A temporary interruption or cessation of a normal activity.
The tie-up hit at the height of the wheat harvest and trade spokesmen said any delays in moving the grain to storage could be disastrous.
1964 June 16, “Surprise Strike Stops Traffic On 6 Railroads”, in The Indianapolis Star, volume 62, number 11, Indianapolis, Ind., page 3 - businessThe act of tying up (or immobilizing) a capital.
Goods values increase as businesses limit their stocks in order to reduce capital tie-up.
- businessThe connection of a loom's treadles to its shafts, used in combination with the threading and treadling to create a pattern.
Fancy tie-ups and treadlings can be designed that weave the ordinary symmetrical point twill like an 8-pointed star or some other motif.
1991, Carol Strickler, editor, A Weaver's Book of 8-Shaft Patterns, Interweave Press, →ISBN, page 26
Synonyms & antonyms
Synonym sets from Open English WordNet, CC BY 4.0.
Origin
Deverbal from tie up.
Full word history & related roots →Cite this entry
tie-up. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 3, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/tie-up
“tie-up.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/tie-up. Accessed November 3, 2026.
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “tie-up,” accessed November 3, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/tie-up.
Source: tie-up on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.