tie in knots

Verb

tie in knots (third-person singular simple present ties in knots, present participle tying in knots, simple past and past participle tied in knots)

1. (idiomatic, transitive) To put (someone) in a difficult situation.
   • That is where [Andrew] Cuomo’s unravelling began, with the revelation – admitted in part by his top aide, Melissa DeRosa, to state lawmakers – that the administration suppressed the number of nursing home deaths by several thousand in order to avoid a federal inquiry. DeRosa claimed the move was...2021 March 14, Ed Pilkington, “A year of living dangerously: how Andrew Cuomo fell from grace”, in The Observer
2. (idiomatic, transitive) To make (someone) upset or anxious.