Meanings
- not comparableslangsimileDrunk, inebriated.
For there ain't no kick Getting tight as a tick When you know that you're not breaking the law
1933, Irving Berlin, “Eighteenth Amen Repealed”, in The Complete Lyrics of Irving Berlin, page 290Synonyms: drunk
- not comparableFully inflated; swollen near to bursting.
I blow it up until it's tight as a tick. Just below the skirt through which the lanyard passes, a tiny mouth whistles a single-note tune until the balloon's lungs are emptied.
2002, Steven Callahan, Adrift: Seventy-Six Days Lost at Sea, page 115Synonyms: full, full as a tick, inflated, overinflated, swollen
- not comparableslangsimileUnwilling to spend money.
The last time she had visited, Sean's father, Tiny Tim, who was tight as a tick with his money, jovially presided over the place, one big yard filled with rusting cars.
2003, Rita Mae Brown, Catch as Cat Can, page 201 more example
"Son, excuse me, but the woman was as tight as a tick, as my grannie used to say. The reason I didn't work on that car of hers is because the one time I did, I charged her a hundred forty-four dollars for a battery, which as you know is the cost to me. She said I was gouging her."
2003, Anna Quindlen, Blessings: a Novel, page 215Synonyms: miserly
Synonyms & antonyms
adjectiveDrunk, inebriated.
adjectiveFully inflated; swollen near to bursting.
adjectiveUnwilling to spend money.
Translations
Russian пья́ный в доску, пья́ный в дупель
- пья́ный в доску (pʹjányj v dosku)drunk, inebriated
- пья́ный в дупель (pʹjányj v dupelʹ)drunk, inebriated
- пья́ный в стельку (pʹjányj v stelʹku)drunk, inebriated
- в соплю пья́ный (v soplju pʹjányj)drunk, inebriated
Cite this entry
tight as a tick. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 5, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/tight%20as%20a%20tick
“tight as a tick.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/tight%20as%20a%20tick. Accessed November 5, 2026.
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “tight as a tick,” accessed November 5, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/tight%20as%20a%20tick.
Source: tight as a tick on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.