1 (with rope) [+object, person, animal] sujetar; amarrar; (LAm) they had to tie the lion down with ropes for the operation
2 (restrict) atar having a pet ties you down tener una mascota te ata; he felt tied down by the relationship se sentía atado por la relación; we didn't want to tie ourselves down to a mortgage no queríamos atarnos a una hipoteca
he didn't have a family because he didn't want to be tied down to be tied down Peter had a natural resistance to being tied down we don't like the idea of being tied down to a particular location to tie [o.s.] down he refused to tie himself down with marriage we have been told not to tie ourselves down with babies
3 (commit) to tie sb down hacer que algn se comprometa; we can't tie him down to a date no conseguimos que se comprometa a una fecha concreta
to tie sb down to a contract I don't want to tie myself down to attending you shouldn't tie yourself down to a musical career just yet I've been trying to get him to do an interview, but I can't tie him down
