Tie French plaits up originally (2,3,5,5)
I believe the answer is:
in the first place
'originally' is the definition.
(I've seen this in another clue)
'tie french plaits up' is the wordplay.
'up' is an anagram indicator (letters get chucked up).
'tie'+'french'+'plaits'='tiefrenchplaits'
'tiefrenchplaits' with letters rearranged gives 'IN THE FIRST PLACE'.
(Other definitions for in the first place that I've seen before include "Where Adam and Eve lived" , "Initially" , "Where Adam and Eve sinned" , "Where the winner would be" , "for a start" .)