keep (one) on a string

To maintain great influence over one. If you want to keep someone on a string, flattery always helps.

have/keep somebody on a ˈstring

make somebody do what you want because you have control over them: Of course, he’s rich and powerful enough to keep several people on a string.

This idiom refers to a puppet (= a model of a person or an animal) that is controlled with strings attached to parts of its body.

See also: have, keep, on, somebody, string

Farlex Partner Idioms Dictionary

See also:

词组	keep (one) on a string
释义	keep (one) on a string keep (one) on a string To maintain great influence over one. If you want to keep someone on a string, flattery always helps. See also: keep, on, string Farlex Dictionary of Idioms. have/keep somebody on a ˈstring make somebody do what you want because you have control over them: Of course, he’s rich and powerful enough to keep several people on a string. This idiom refers to a puppet (= a model of a person or an animal) that is controlled with strings attached to parts of its body. See also: have, keep, on, somebody, string Farlex Partner Idioms Dictionary See also: keep (one's) eyes on (someone or something) keep (something) under wraps keep away keep away (from someone or something) keep (someone) in the picture keep faith with keep faith with (someone or something) keep (something) by keep by keep in
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