tidy

comparative tidier · superlative tidiest

1. Arranged neatly and in order.

   She always kept her desk immaculately tidy; nothing was ever out of place.

   Synonyms: neat

2. Not messy; neat and controlled.

   Keep Britain tidy by picking up litter.

3. colloquialSatisfactory; comfortable.
4. colloquialGenerous, considerable.

   The scheme made a tidy profit.

   1 more example

   Two hundred thousand people! Miss Glory, that's a tidy lot. Not bad.

   c. 1921 (date written), Karel Čapek, translated by Paul Selver, R.U.R. (Rossum’s Universal Robots): A Fantastic Melodrama […], Garden City, N.Y.: Doubleday, Page & Company, published 1923, →OCLC, Act 1

5. obsoleteIn good time; at the right time; timely; seasonable; opportune; favourable; fit; suitable.

   if weather be fair and tidy

   1573, Thomas Tusser, Five Hundred Points of Good Husbandry

   Synonyms: opportune

6. obsoleteBrave; smart; skillful; fine; good.
7. Appropriate or suitable as regards occasion, circumstances, arrangement, or order.

   Synonyms: apt

8. data scienceNormalized in a certain way that optimizes for data analysis.

present singular third person tidies · participle present tidying · participle past tidied · past tidied

1. To make tidy; to neaten.

plural tidies

1. in compoundsA container or other device for storing or organizing loose items in a tidy fashion.

   desk tidy; sink tidy; cable tidy

   3 more examples

   It was in the days when[…]every scrap of cotton or linen found its way into the ‘tidy’.

   1863, William Blanchard Jerrold, Signals of distress, in refuges and homes of charity, London, page 207

   NORRIS'S SINK TIDY. J NORRIS AND SONS, Sunningdale, near Ascot, the inventors of the "Little Friend" soap-tray, have extended the usefulness of this utensil by designing a sink-tidy for carrying three of the trays in the manner shown in the engraving. The tidy is formed by a strip of light wood[…]The price at which the tidy is offered virtually places it within the reach of everyone.

   1895 July 6, The Ironmonger: Builders Merchant and Hardwareman, page 13

   Inside there it was, the 1337 Revolving Desk Tidy.[…]The round "tidy" was divided into six segments "for all types of small sundries," and looked a bit like a grapefruit cut across the middle.

   2020, James Ward, The Perfection of the Paperclip, page 11

2. A cover, often of tatting, drawn work, or other ornamental work, for the back of a chair, the arms of a sofa, etc.
3. datedA child's pinafore.

   A much coarser cotton, according to the fancy of the worker, may be used for the trimmings of night dresses, petticoats, D'Oyleys, tidies, etc.

   1846, Miss Lambert, The Handbook of Needlework

4. The wren.

   The Tydie for her notes as delicate as they

   1612, Michael Drayton, chapter 13, in [John Selden], editor, Poly-Olbion. Or A Chorographicall Description of Tracts, Riuers, Mountaines, Forests, and Other Parts of this Renowned Isle of Great Britaine, […], London: […] [Humphrey Lownes] for M[athew] Lownes; I[ohn] Browne; I[ohn] Helme; I[ohn] Busbie, →OCLC

1. WalesExpression of agreement or positive acknowledgement, usually in reply to a question; great, fine.

1. A surname.