on a string
American Heritage Dictionary of Idioms:
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on a string
Under someone's control, as in She'll drop everything whenever Sam asks for something--he's got her on a string. This expression, alluding to pulling an animal on a leash, dates from the late 1500s, when it was put as
in a string.
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American Heritage Dictionary of Idioms
The American Heritage® Dictionary of Idioms by Christine Ammer. Copyright © 1997 by The Christine Ammer 1992 Trust. Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.
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