tighten the noose

present singular third person tightens the noose · participle present tightening the noose · participle past tightened the noose · past tightened the noose

1. To make a situation worse.

   His actions have continued to tighten the noose around himself.

   4 more examples

   Since then, the committees up and down the front have continued to vote, and the Council has continued to tighten the noose

   1890, American Monthly Review of Reviews volume 57, Review of Reviews Corporation, page 62

   He hoped, indeed believed, that by returning the bill to congress with a message which exposed the measure’s revolutionary and oppressive character, he would arouse public sentiment in the North against the Republicans, thus tightening the noose which they had placed around their own necks by passing the bill.

   1979, Albert Castel, The Presidency of Andrew Johnson, Regents Press of Kansas, page 111

   Many entities in a variety of contexts voluntarily choose to go far beyond the duties that the law imposes on them. They are unlikely to do so if they thereby tighten the noose of legal duty around their necks.

   2000,, M.A.K. V. Rush-Presbyterian-St. Luke's Medical Center, Supreme Court of Illinois, page 24

   It's been said that we are tightening the noose, and in fact that is the case. We're tightening the noose. It's a matter of time.

   2001, Donald Rumsfeld, Public Statements of Donald H. Rumsfeld, Secretary of Defense, 2001, Historical Office, Office of the Secretary of Defense, page 2666