United StatesUnited KingdomAustraliaCanadainformalcolloquialidiomatic
To have someone in a position of decisive control, leverage, or vulnerability; to hold the advantage over another person so that they cannot easily resist or escape.
To have the means to compel someone to comply or to punish them; to possess decisive evidence or power over another's actions or fate.
2.
General Englishinformalliteral
To grasp or seize by short hairs (literal physical hairs), used sometimes figuratively to emphasize the force or humiliation of the hold.
Examples:
EN: I got him by the short hairs right now.
ES: Ahora mismo lo tengo a mi merced.
EN: Boy, has he got me by the short hairs for it.
ES: Me tiene cogido por los huevos.
EN: Got her by the short hairs now!
ES: ¡Ponla ahora con el pelo corto!
EN: That grabs you by the short hairs, don't it?
ES: Eso le deja estupefacto.
EN: - You think you got me by the short hairs?
ES: - Me tiene por los cojones; ¿eh?
EN: I'll make him, that's why. Because I've got him by the short hairs.
ES: Tendrá que hacerlo.
EN: I think your friend Kendig has you well and truly by the short hairs.
ES: Creo que su amigo Kendig... los tiene bien cogidos por las pelotas.
EN: We got it by the short hairs.
ES: Lo tenemos cogido por las bolas.
EN: You wanna bump short hairs.
ES: Tú quieres frotar los vellos.
EN: Because if you Gacy not arrested during his short hairs ... Not just your career is now at stake.
ES: Porque si no atrapas a Gacy... no solo tu carrera estará en juego ahora.
EN: I knew we had an excellent case against Joel, but now we have got him by the short hairs.
ES: Sabía que teníamos un caso excelente contra Joel, pero ahora le tenemos cogido por los pelos.
EN: And the next time you feel the desire... to yank me by the short hairs...
ES: Y la próxima vez que sientas deseos de tirarme de los pelos cortitos...
EN: - you got him by the short hairs.
ES: Lo has agarrado por los pelos.
EN: There's a world out there waiting for us to grab it by the short hairs!
ES: Hay un mundo ahí fuera esperando para nosotros, para cogerla por los pelos!
EN: They got hot wings here that'll singe your short hairs right off.
ES: - Sí. Tienen unas alitas picantes que no te dejarán sentarte.