tight

Meanings

1. 1
   adj

   affected by scarcity and expensive to borrow

   tight money

2. 2
   adj

   packed closely together

   they stood in a tight little group

3. 3
   adj

   of such close construction as to be impermeable

   a tight roof

4. 4
   adj

   closely constrained or constricted or constricting

   tight skirts

5. 5
   adj

   set so close together as to be invulnerable to penetration

   in tight formation

6. 6
   adj

   Firmly held together; compact; not loose or open.

   a tight sponge; a tight knot

7. 7
   adj

   Narrow, such that it is difficult for something or someone to pass through it.

   The passageway was so tight we could barely get through.

8. 8
   adj

   Well-rehearsed and accurate in execution.

   Their marching band is extremely tight.

Etymology

From Middle English tight, tyght, tyȝt, tiht, variants of thight, thiht, from Old English *þiht, *þīht (attested in meteþiht), from Proto-West Germanic *þį̄ht(ī), from Proto-Germanic *þinhtaz, from Proto-Indo-European *tenkt- (“dense, thick, tight”), from Proto-Indo-European *ten- (“to stretch, pull”). Cognate with Scots ticht, West Frisian ticht, Danish tæt, Icelandic þéttur (“dense”), Norwegian tett, Swedish tät, Dutch dicht (“dense”), German dicht (“dense”). The current form with t- /t/ rather than etymologically-expected th- /θ/ arose in Middle English under the influence of the etymologic…