Meanings
plural tighteners
- Something used to tighten.
- UKarchaicslangA large meal; a feast or blowout.
184?, Henry Mayhew, London Labour and the London Poor One proposed going to Hungerford-market to do a feed on decayed shrimps or other offal laying about the market; another proposed going to Covent-garden to do a 'tightener' of rotten oranges, to which I was humorously invited; […]
1 more example
Now a belt like this is a great saving to a man inasmuch as he can save many a meal by wearing it; all you have to do if you want to save a meal is to buckle in a hole or two tighter, and you will feel as if you have had a tightener and will not miss your dinner for that day.
1876, William Green, Charles Hindley, The Life and Adventures of a Cheap Jack, page 55
Origin
From tighten + -er. Referring to a meal, suggests the tightening of one's belt around the expanding waistline.
Full word history & related roots →Rhymes & wordplay
Anagrams
Cite this entry
tightener. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 3, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/tightener
“tightener.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/tightener. Accessed November 3, 2026.
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “tightener,” accessed November 3, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/tightener.
Source: tightener on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.