tight-assed

comparative more tight-assed · superlative most tight-assed · alternative UK tight-arsed

1. derogatoryinformalRigidly maintaining self-control; restricting oneself to generally accepted rules and behaviours.

   This noncritical atmosphere works for us because the three of us are so tight assed about revealing our emotions.

   1991, Douglas Coupland, Generation X: Tales for an Accelerated Culture, New York, N.Y.: St. Martin’s Press, →ISBN, page 14

   2 more examples

   Assemblyperson Baker, as she probably liked to be addressed, had all the lyricism and sensuality of Betty Crocker. She was so tight-assed that she even wore stockings in the tropics.

   1982, Patricia Burstein, chapter 12, in Family Holiday,, New York: William Morrow, page 182

   A group of pedestrians waited on the corner opposite for the lights to change even though there was no traffic coming in either direction. After watching them for a while Hoffmann muttered savagely, ‘The goddam tight-assed Swiss...’

   2011, Robert Harris, chapter 4, in The Fear Index, London: Hutchinson, pages 63–64

   Synonyms: conservative, conventional, inhibited, repressed, straight-laced, stuffy, uptight · Antonyms: easy-going, laid-back, relaxed

2. derogatoryinformalExcessively concerned with unimportant details; obsessively precise.

   […] Gottlieb obviously wishes, above all else in life, that he could turn himself into that miserable don and learn to write his spiteful-playful tight-assed vinegar prose.

   1964, Christopher Isherwood, A Single Man, London: Minerva, published 1991, page 62

   1 more example

   It was a typical old brownstone, built in the fifties and since then maintained with tight-assed economy—a little paint every year, a new lock on the door, perhaps a new piece of plumbing here and there as the old rusted out.

   1998, Debra Di Blasi, “Prayers of an Accidental Nature”, in Prayers of an Accidental Nature: Stories, Minneapolis: Coffee House Press, page 178

   Synonyms: anal, fastidious, fussy, finicky, hair-splitting, nitpicky, punctilious

3. derogatoryinformalReluctant to spend money.

   We have learned how—what do you call it?—tight-assed the white man is with his money.

   1971, James Schevill, Lovecraft’s Follies, Chicago: Swallow Press, Act I, Scene 3, p. 45

   1 more example

   Cuddles is the one in the money. Ain’t tight-assed about it either, which is why we hang together.

   1991, Melvin Dixon, Vanishing Rooms,, New York: Dutton, page 28

   Synonyms: miserly, stingy, tight-fisted

4. informalHaving firm or clenched buttocks.

   2015, Kimberli A. Bindschatel, Operation Tropical Affair, Traverse City, MI: Turning Leaf, Chapter 8, p. 78, We could pop down to the Caymans. Drink some margaritas, watch those tight-assed college boys play beach volleyball.

   1 more example

   He had an eagle tattooed on his chest, a tight-assed, narrow-hipped swagger, and a reputation for having fast hands and clever fingers.

   1994, Janet Evanovich, chapter 1, in One for the Money, New York: St. Martin’s Griffin, page 3

5. informalbusinessFitting tightly in the area covering the buttocks.

   1967, Wright Morris, In Orbit, Chapter 6, in Two for the Road, Santa Rosa: Black Sparrow Press, 1994, p. 264, There is no room in his tight-assed pants for his dangling hands.

   2 more examples

   […] the women wore hot pants and halter tops and tight-assed skirts.

   1994, George Pelecanos, chapter 7, in Shoedog,, New York: St. Martin’s Press, page 56

   The waiters were all beautiful Portuguese Nancy boys dressed in tight French sailor suits—striped shirts, tight-assed bell bottoms, a blue cap with a red pompadour—and reeking of delectably cheap perfume.

   2012, Robert Littell, chapter 8, in Young Philby,, New York: Thomas Dunne Books, page 164

alternative UK tight-arsed

1. derogatoryinformalnot comparableIn an uptight or fastidious way.

   they take themselves too tight-assed serious here

   1978, Norma Fox Mazer, Harry Mazer, chapter 1, in The Solid Gold Kid,, New York: Dell, page 7

   1 more example

   When he’d stopped at a saloon for a glass of skullbuster, the bar-keep had been so tight-assed snotty about serving him that he’d taken the one drink in a gulp and then cleared out.

   1975, Theodore V. Olsen, chapter 3, in Track the Man Down, Garden City, NY: Doubleday, page 35