subs. (colloquial).—In pl. = closely fitting garments: e.g., (1) SMALL CLOTHES (q.v.); and (2) a garment fitting skin-tight to the legs or the whole body, either to display the form or for freedom of movement (chiefly theatrical).
1837. DICKENS, Pickwick Papers, i. His elevated position revealing those TIGHTS and gaiters, which, had they clothed an ordinary man, might have passed without observation.
1869. W. BLACK, In Silk Attire, xxxvi. And I shall be in TIGHTS and dance a breakdown.
1887. Daily Telegraph, 15 March. Frozen in their TIGHTS or chilled to the bone in the midst of their carnivalesque revelry.
Adj. (old colloquial).—1. Generic for merit. Thus A TIGHT (= strong or active) LAD; A TIGHT (= lively or pretty) WENCH; A TIGHT (= an adroit) QUESTION; A TIGHT (= well-built) SHIP; A TIGHT (= skilful) WORKMAN; A TIGHT (= pleasant) ISLAND, etc. Again, ALL TIGHT = in good health (or form); NEAT AND TIGHT = in good trim.
c. 1280. Havelok the Dane [E.E.T.S.], 1841. Þe laddes were kaske and TEYTE.
1553. DOUGLAS, Bukes of Eneados, xiii., Prologue.
| Litill lammes | |
| Full TAIT and trig. |
1593. SHAKESPEARE, Taming of the Shrew, ii. 1. 381.
| Three great argosies; besides two galliases, | |
| And twelve TIGHT gallies. | |
| Ibid. (1608), Antony and Cleopatra, iv. 4. 15. | |
| My queen ’s a squire | |
| More TIGHT at this, than thou. |
d. 1656. JOSEPH HALL, Naomi and Ruth. Some TIGHT vessel that holds out against wind and water.
1681. DAMPIER, Voyages, i. While they are among the English they wear good Cloaths, and take delight to go neat and TIGHT.
1707. FARQUHAR, The Beaux Stratagem, i. i.
| But you look so bright, | |
| And are dress’d so tight. |
1714. GAY, The What d’ye Call it, i. 1.
| I’ll make a loving Wife: | |
| I’ll prove a true Pains-taker Day and Night, | |
| I’ll spin and card, and keep our Children TIGHT. | |
| Ibid. (1714), The Shepherd’s Week, Sat., l. 77. | |
| How the TIGHT lass, knives, combs, and scissars spies, | |
| And looks on thimbles with desiring eyes. |
1748. J. THOMSON, Castle of Indolence, lxix.
| He had a roguish twinkle in his eye … | |
| If a TIGHT damsel chaunced to trippen by. |
d. 1758. RAMSAY, The Auld Man’s Best Argument [Works, ii. 285].
| Gi’e me the lad that’s young and TIGHT. | |
| Ibid., p. 225, Bessy Bell and Mary Gray. | |
| Blyth as a kid, with wit at will, | |
| She blooming, TIGHT, and tall is. |
c. 1796. DIBDIN, The Snug Little Island.
| O, it’s a snug little island! | |
| A right little, TIGHT little island! | |
| Ibid. ‘Poor Jack.’ | |
| A TIGHT water-boat and good sea-room give me, | |
| And it ent to a little I’ll strike. |
1822. SCOTT, The Fortunes of Nigel, xxxi. Look at them—they are a’ right and TIGHT, sound and round, not a doublet crept in amongst them.
1851. HAWTHORNE, The House of the Seven Gables, xiii. It will take a TIGHTER workman than I am to keep the spirits out of the seven gables.
1852. H. B. STOWE, Uncle Tom’s Cabin, viii. A TIGHT, likely wench she was, too.
2. (colloquial).—Close; stingy; dear; hard-up. Hence A TIGHT (= straightened) MARKET; TIGHT (= scarce) MONEY; A TIGHT (= hard) BARGAIN; A TIGHT (= stingy) MAN: cf. EASY. Hence TO TIGHTEN = to become dear (of money).
1856. WHITCHER, The Widow Bedott Papers, 30. Deacon Bedott was as TIGHT as the skin on his back—begrudged folks their vittals when they came to his house!
c. 1859. New York Tribune [BARTLETT]. The money market, except on the best stocks, is getting TIGHT, and there is a general calling in of loans upon the ‘fancies.’
1867. A. TROLLOPE, The Last Chronicle of Barset, xlii. I never knew money to be so TIGHT as it is at this moment.
1868. LEVER, Bramleighs of Bishop’s Folly, I. xxi. A few curt sentences … told how matters stood in the City; money was TIGHT.
1883. Daily Telegraph, 24 Nov. Lenders avoiding this class of paper from a belief that the market will, as usual, ‘TIGHTEN up’ towards the end of the year.
1891. LEHMANN, Harry Fludyer at Cambridge, 49. Money is particularly valuable up here now—what the Pater calls ‘TIGHT’ when he speaks of the bank rate.
1900. PERCY WHITE, The West End, 15. I cannot quite remember how Low brought Lady Elverton’s name into the conversation, but I think it was in association with money being ‘TIGHT.’
3. (colloquial).—Severe; hard; difficult: e.g., A TIGHT (= a straining) PULL; A TIGHT (= barely possible) SQUEEZE; A TIGHT (= awkward) POSITION (CORNER PLACE, etc.); A TIGHT = (hacking) COUGH.
1855. HALIBURTON (‘Sam Slick’), Nature and Human Nature, 217. It’s a TIGHT SQUEEZE sometimes to scrouge between a lie and the truth in business.
4. (common).—Drunk; full of liquor: see SCREWED.
d. 1867. C. F. BROWNE (‘Artemus Ward’), Artemus Ward in London (1899). Took to gin-and-seltzer, gettin’ TIGHT every day afore dinner with the most disgustin’ reg’larity.
186[?]. C. H. ROSS, The Husband’s Boat, ‘What Grandfather Said.’
| And now and then he did get TIGHT, | |
| He used to go it proper right, | |
| Did Grandfather! |
1868. LEVER, Bramleighs of Bishop’s Folly, II. iii. ‘No, sir, not a bit tipsy,’ said Harding, interpreting his glance; ‘not even what Mr Cutbill calls TIGHT!’
1871. W. CARLETON, Farm Ballads, ‘Johnny Rich.’
| When you staggered by, next night, | |
| Twice as dirty as a serpent and a hundred times as TIGHT? |
1876. J. HABBERTON, The Barton Experiment, xii. 126. It’s kinder discouragin’ to lend to a feller that gets TIGHT a good deal—gets TIGHT sometimes anyhow: it’s hard enough to get paid by folks that always keep straight.
1884. S. L. CLEMENS (‘Mark Twain’), The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, xxx. In about a half an hour they was as thick as thieves again, and the TIGHTER they got, the lovinger they got.
1889. Echo, 15 Feb.
| If rich, you may fuddle with Bacchus all night, | |
| And be borne to your chamber remarkably TIGHT. |
1897. MARSHALL, Pomes, 29. But although he was full, he denied he was TIGHT.
1900. KIPLING, Stalky & Co., 17. It’s Heffelinga that has the evil mind. ’Shouldn’t wonder if he thought we got TIGHT.
5. (Winchester College).—See quot.
1891. R. G. K. WRENCH, Winchester Word-Book, s.v. TIGHT, fast, hard. A TIGHT bowler, etc. As superlative adverb now only used in TIGHT-junior. TIGHT-snob, TIGHT-rot, and other such uses are obsolete.
TIGHT-ARSED, adj. phr. (venery).—Chaste; CLOSE-LEGGED (q.v.).
BLOW ME TIGHT! See BLOW.
