had someone by the short hairs

Verb

have someone by the short hairs (third-person singular simple present has someone by the short hairs, present participle having someone by the short hairs, simple past and past participle had someone by the short hairs)

1. (idiomatic) To have someone in a difficult situation in which he or she is without alternatives and can be controlled.
   • Beginning with a curt “Listen, Buster,” she proceeded to sketch out with admirable clearness the salient points in the situation as she envisaged it, and judging from the loud buzzing noises that came over the wire, clearly audible to me though now standing in the background, it was evident that...1960, P[elham] G[renville] Wodehouse, chapter XIX, in Jeeves in the Offing, London: Herbert Jenkins, →OCLC

   Synonyms:

   have someone by the balls, have someone by the short and curlies, have someone on toast, have someone over a barrel