Meaning
To get married. An informal, light-hearted expression common in wedding announcements and conversation, very often in the past tense ('they finally tied the knot'); it is neutral about whether the marriage is civil or religious. Informal and warm rather than legal; avoid in formal or legal writing about marriage. Regional use: General English.
Origin
The word 'knot' has meant wedlock since at least circa 1225, when the Middle English 'Legend of St Katherine' likens a couple to a knot fastened between two people. The full phrase first appears in print in 1717, in Matthew Prior's poem 'Alma; or, The Progress of the Mind' ('So to the priest their case they tell: He ties the knot'), and Francis Grose's 1811 slang dictionary glosses marriage as tying a knot with the tongue that cannot be untied with the teeth. The actual derivation is uncertain: as The Phrase Finder puts it, it is not clear whether the expression comes from a real knotted-cord custom - such as binding a couple's wrists with twine, as in handfasting-type rites - or simply from the knot as a long-standing symbol of binding and unity. The popular story that it refers to knotted ropes supporting old mattresses is folk etymology with, in The Phrase Finder's words, not a shred of supporting evidence.
Research Sources
References used to check this entry’s meaning, history, or documented forms.
Variants
- tie the nuptial knot
- tied the knot
- tying the knot
Usage Examples
- Marta and Jae tied the knot in a small ceremony outside Lisbon last spring.
- After twelve years together, they finally decided to tie the knot.
- The couple will tie the knot at the registry office before hosting a picnic for friends.