The robbers tied up the bank employees before forcing a way into the vault.
2 more examples
At the far end of the houses the head gardener stood waiting for his mistress, and he gave her strips of bass to tie up her nosegay. This she did slowly and laboriously, with knuckly old fingers that shook.1918, W[illiam] B[abington] Maxwell, chapter XIX, in The Mirror and the Lamp, Indianapolis, Ind.: The Bobbs-Merrill Company, →OCLC:
“Mother — Mother will you tie up my shoeies?” Susan’s lisping voice interrupted their conversation.1956 June 16, Dulce E. Waller, “Your Family and You”, in The Hamilton Spectator, volume CXI, number 140, Hamilton, Ont., →ISSN, →OCLC, page 12, column 2:
He has been tying up the phone lines for hours now.
Just how much traffic was tied up was not immediately determined but in Houston about 150 cars of grain arrived yesterday and could not be transferred to the port because of the Port Terminal Railroad picketing.1964 June 16, “Surprise Strike Stops Traffic On 6 Railroads”, in The Indianapolis Star, volume 62, number 11, Indianapolis, Ind., page 3:
Scottish Fishermen’s Federation chief Elspeth Macdonald said the whitefish fleet could have had to tie up for the entire year because of the recommendation.2025 December 5, “Isles economy could take £16m hit from cod quota slash, fishing official says”, in Shetland News:
4
Business, Finance To immobilize a capital: make a capital investment that makes that capital unavailable.
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:
2
Business, Finance The act of tying up (or immobilizing) a capital.
Goods values increase as businesses limit their stocks in order to reduce capital tie-up.
3
Business, Manufacturing, Textiles, Weaving The 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: