hog-tie

Meanings

1. 1verbtransitive

   To tie a person's or animal's hands and feet together so they cannot move freely.

   Grammar: Takes an object: the rancher hog-tied the calf.

   Patterns

   • hog-tie someone
   • hog-tie an animal

   The cowboy hog-tied the calf in seconds during the rodeo.

   Police found the victim hog-tied in a cellar.

   The actors hog-tied each other as a stunt for the video.

2. 2verbtransitivefigurativeinformal

   To severely limit someone's freedom to act or make decisions, usually through rules or obstacles.

   Grammar: Often used in the passive: hog-tied by regulations.

   Patterns

   • be hog-tied by something
   • hog-tie someone with something

   The council was hog-tied by strict budget rules.

   Endless paperwork hog-tied the small business.

   The coach felt hog-tied by the injuries on his team.

Word forms

Common combinations

hog-tie a calf

Competitors race to hog-tie a calf.

hog-tied by red tape

The agency is hog-tied by red tape.

hog-tied by regulations

Small farmers feel hog-tied by regulations.

completely hog-tied

Without funding, the project was completely hog-tied.

hog-tie a suspect

The report said the guards did not hog-tie the suspect.

Synonyms and how they differ

truss

Truss means to tie something up tightly, often for cooking or carrying, and it lacks the idea of tying hands to feet.

hamstring

Hamstring is the figurative cousin of hog-tie, meaning to cripple someone's ability to act.

bind

Bind is general for tying, while hog-tie names a specific way of tying limbs together.

hinder

Hinder is a mild, formal word, much weaker than the vivid hog-tie.

Opposites

Word family

hog-tied adjective

tied up this way, or severely restricted

hog noun

a pig, especially a large one

tie verb

to fasten with cord

Commonly confused: hog-tie or hog?

Practice

Make it your own

Write a sentence using “hog-tie”, then check it and compare it with the examples above.

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