Forms: 3–5 tidi, 4–5 tide, 4–7, 9 Sc. tydy, 5 tyde, (tithy), 6 tidie, tydye, 6–8 tydie, 7 Sc. tyddie, (9 dial. teydey), 4, 7– tidy. [ME. f. tíd time, TIDE + -Y. Cf. OHG., MHG. zîlig (Ger. zeitig), Du. tijdig, Sw., Da. tidig timely.]
† 1. Timely, seasonable, opportune; in season.
c. 1350. Will. Palerne, 1339. Gret merþe … meliors þan made for þe tidy tidinges. Ibid., 1710. Til she say tidi time hire prey for to take.
c. 1475. Partenay, 5722. Or nouel thinges … No-thing I fynd at no tydy stounde.
1594. Carew, Tasso (1881), 66. Nor place serues fit, nor season tidie growes.
1660. F. Brooke, trans. Le Blanc’s Trav., 270. Hearing of this tydie accident, he was cautious to appear.
1721. Ramsay, Horace to Virg., 5. King Æol, grant a tydie tirl.
† b. Tidy cow, a cow giving milk. Sc. Obs.
1493. Act. Dom. Conc. (1839), 300. Þe mylk of thre tithy ky.
1533. in Munim. Burgh Irvine (1890), I. 39. Ane tydy kow.
1670. in Proc. Soc. Ant. Scot. (1896), XXX. 20. Too tydie kay & four yeell [i.e., dry] kay. Ibid. (1678), Two tyddie key and a two yeir old kow.
2. In good condition, or of good appearance; fair, well-favored, comely, bonny; fat, plump, healthy. In quot. 1340–70, showy, gorgeous. Now dial.
c. 1250. Gen. & Ex., 2105. .vii. eares wexen fette of coren, On an busk ranc and wel tidi.
1340–70. Alex. & Dind., 599. We … no tidi atir in templus araie.
1393. Langl., P. Pl., C. XIII. 187. Seedes þat been sowen and mowe suffre wyntres, Aren tydyour and tower.
1513. Douglas, Æneis, I. iv. 23. Flockis and hirdis of oxin and of fee, Fat and tydye.
1573. Tusser, Husb. (1878), 131. If weather be faire, and tidie thy graine, Make speedily carrege, for feare of a raine.
1597. Shaks., 2 Hen. IV., II. iv. 250. Thou whorson little tydie Bartholmew Bore-pigge.
1607. Topsell, Four-f. Beasts (1658), 518. When a Sow is very fat she hath alway but little milk, and therefore is not apt to make any good tidy Pigs.
1714. Gay, Sheph. Week, Friday, 76. Before my Eyes will trip the tidy Lass.
1803. R. Anderson, Cumbld. Ball., 56. Bonny, teydey, blithe was she.
1808. Jamieson, A tydy bairn, a child that is plump and thriving.
1881. Grant White, Eng. Without & Within, xvi. 387. Among them [the lower middle class] a tidy girl means a pretty girl, and particularly a girl with a good figure.
3. As an indefinite epithet of admiration or commendation, † a. Good, excellent, satisfactory, useful; of good character or ability; worthy, brave; able, skilful. (Also ironically.) Obs.
c. 1350. Will. Palerne, 2496. Forto telle what tidde of þat tide werwolf. Ibid., 5384. Al þat touched þer to a tidi erldome, To þe kowherd & his wif þe king ȝaf þat time.
1393. Langl., P. Pl., C. XXII. 441. Trauaileþ … for a tretour al-so sore As for a trewe tydy man.
1400. Destr. Troy, 1035. Soudiours … Of the tidest of Tessaile, tore men of strenght.
1567. Drant, Horace, Ep., II. ii. H j. A seruaunte at his masters beck tydie, prompte, preste and fyne.
1613. Beaum. & Fl., Coxcomb, II. i. Thou art the tidiest wittol … I think above ground.
a. 1625. Fletcher, Woman’s Prize, IV. ii. What a hap had I, And what a tydie fortune, when my fate Flung me upon this bear-whelp?
b. Now in lighter use: Fairly satisfactory, ‘pretty good,’ ‘fair’ (in quality); decent, of a good sort; nice. (colloq.)
1844. Dickens, Lett. (ed. 2), I. 116. Which I thought for a coastguardman was rather a tidy question.
1851. Mayhew, Lond. Labour, I. 133. Parsons and doctors are often ‘tidy customers.’
1865. Dickens, Mut. Fr., III. i. A tidy shot that, I flatter myself.
1899. E. Phillpotts, Human Boy, iii. 82. I hope he did [succeed], for he was a tidy chap, though queer.
c. Considerable (in amount or degree); ‘pretty big’: A tidy penny = ‘a pretty penny’ (PRETTY a. 5). (colloq.)
1834. The Crisis, III. 22 March, 247/1. Allowing that we could convey emigrants for 5l. a-head, as a large portion would go to Canada, the expense would be 2,043,185l. sterling every year; a pretty tidy sum to carry off a ‘surplus population!’
1838. Dickens, Nich. Nick., xxxii. You came along at a tidy pace.
1851. Mayhew, Lond. Labour, I. 352. If it is just after quarter-day, she generally gets a tidy tip.
1854. Househ. Words, IX. 69/1. I have a tidy penny in the funds.
1881. Blackmore, Christowell, ii. A horse who had been to Exeter and back with a tidy load.
1893. Lady Burton, Sir R. F. Burton, II. 252. A very large garden … wherein one could take a very tidy walk.
1903. Sir M. G. Gerard, Leaves fr. Diaries, ix. 324. They do swear a tidy bit.
4. (The chief current use.) a. Of persons: Orderly in habits, or in personal appearance; disposed to keep things (or one’s person or dress) neat and in order.
1706. Phillips (ed. Kersey), Tidy, handy, neat, clean, as A tidy Servant.
a. 1800. Pegge, Suppl. Grose, Tidy, neat. North.
1818. Scott, Hrt. Midl., xxxiii. If thou knowest of any tidy lass like thysell, that wanted a place, and could bring a good character.
1831. D. E. Williams, Life & Corr. Sir T. Lawrence, II. 72. [The child] folds up her things like a tidy lady’s maid.
1849. Lytton, Caxtons, 13. My dear mother was the tidiest woman in the world.
b. Of things, esp. of a house, room, receptacle, etc.: Neatly arranged; with nothing in disorder or out of place; orderly, neat, trim.
1828. Webster, s.v., The children are tidy; their dress is tidy…. The apartments are well furnished and tidy.
1840. Dickens, Barn. Rudge, iv. There was not a neater, more scrupulously tidy, or more punctiliously ordered house in Clerkenwell.
1859. Habits Gd. Soc., viii. 271. Some under-bred ladies … put tidy their work-boxes, making you feel that you are secondary.
1880. Jefferies, Gt. Estate, 201. He objected to cut and trim them [shrubs, etc.]. ‘For,’ said he, ‘God made nothing tidy.’
5. Comb., as tidy-dressed, looking, -minded adjs.; tidy-betty, an ash-pan (dial.).
1825. J. Neal, Bro. Jonathan, I. 19. He was a small, meagre,… tidy-looking somebody.
1853. Times-Picayune, 8 Jan., 1/3. Groups of tidy-dressed milliners exclaimed against the wickedness of man, and watched the incidents of the race with many ‘Mon Dieus!’
1884. Health Exhib. Catal., 71/2. Front Damper acting as a ‘Tidy Betty’ with Cinder-sifter.
1900. Leeds Mercury, 9 May. He struck her on the head with a ‘tidy-betty,’ and then kicked her with his clogs.
1900. J. K. Jerome, 3 Men on Bummel, vii. 156. Fit for a tidy-minded lover of German nature.
B. sb. A name for various articles intended to keep persons or things tidy or neat. a. A pinafore or overall. dial.
a. 1825. Forby, Voc. E. Anglia, Tidy, a light outer covering worn by children, to keep their clothes from dirt and grease.
b. An ornamental loose covering for the back of a chair or the like, usually of fancy work; an antimacassar.
1850. Knickerb. Mag., XXXVI. 255 (Thornton, Amer. Gloss.). One cane-seated rocking-chair, the back of which is covered with an unapproachable netting of spotless white, called a ‘tidy.’
1861. J. Pycroft, Agony Point (1862), 126. After a few magic passes—the placing of a screen, the arrangement of a tidy or the folds of a curtain,…—a room … becomes … instinct with life, and grace, and comfort.
1882. Mrs. L. C. Lillie, Prudence, 61. Is that a tidy? Yes…. They call them antimacassars and sofa-backs here.
c. A bag or other receptacle in which to keep scraps, odds and ends, etc.; a work-bag; a toilet-tidy.
1828. Craven Gloss., Tidy, a work bag, &c.
1863. W. B. Jerrold, Signals Distress, 207. It was in the days when … every scrap of cotton or linen found its way into the ‘tidy.’
C. adv. Tidily; pretty well; nicely, finely; also ironical. dial. or vulgar.
1824. in Spirit Pub. Jrnls. (1825), 347. They’ve served me pretty tidy going along,… punching at me with their shilaleaghs as they would at a woolsack.
1851. Mayhew, Lond. Labour, I. 355. Them as could patter tidy did the best.
1904. Eng. Dial. Dict., s.v., That there oak’s coming out quite tidy.
Hence Tidyism (nonce-wd.), a principle or practice of extreme tidiness.
1856. Miss Yonge, Daisy Chain, I. ix. His funny little old bachelor tidyisms.
