From Longman Dictionary of Contemporary Englishsomebody’s hands are tiedsomebody’s hands are tiedif someone’s hands are tied, they cannot help in a particular situation because of rules, laws etc The bank claims its hands are tied by federal regulators. → hand
Examples from the Corpus
somebody’s hands are tied• I'd like to help you, but you missed the deadline. I'm afraid my hands are tied.• The company's hands are tied because of government regulations.• We'd really like to help you, but I'm afraid our hands are tied.• Bankers argue that their hands are tied by the Fed. 