▪ I. tidy, a. (n., adv.)
(ˈtaɪdɪ)
Forms: 3–5 tidi, 4–5 tide, 4–7, 9 Sc. tydy, 5 tyde, (tithy), 6 tidie, tydye, 6–8 tydie, 7 Sc. tyddie, (9 dial. teydey), 4, 7– tidy.
[ME. f. t{iacu}d time, tide + -y. Cf. OHG., MHG. zîtig (Ger. zeitig), Du. tijdig, Sw., Da. tidig timely.]
A. adj.
† 1. a. Timely, seasonable, opportune; in season.
| c 1350 Will. Palerne 1339 Gret merþe..meliors þan made for þe tidy tidinges. Ibid. 1710 Til she say tidi time hire prey for to take. c 1475 Partenay 5722 Of nouel thinges..No-thing I fynd at no tydy stounde. 1594 Carew Tasso (1881) 66 Nor place serues fit, nor season tidie growes. 1660 F. Brooke tr. Le Blanc's Trav. 270 Hearing of this tydie accident, he was cautious to appear. 1721 Ramsay Horace to Virg. 5 King æol, grant a tydie tirl. |
† b. tidy cow, a cow giving milk.
Sc. Obs.| 1493 Act. Dom. Conc. (1839) 300 Þe mylk of thre tithy ky. 1533 in Munim. Burgh Irvine (1890) I. 39 Ane tydy kow. 1670 in Proc. Soc. Ant. Scot. (1896) XXX. 20 Too tydie kay & four yeell [i.e. dry] kay. 1678 Ibid., Two tyddie key and a two yeir old kow. |
2. In good condition, or of good appearance; fair, well-favoured, comely, bonny; fat, plump, healthy. In
quot. 1340–70, showy, gorgeous. Now
dial.| c 1250 Gen. & Ex. 2105, .vii. eares wexen fette of coren, On an busk ranc and wel tidi. 1340–70 Alex. & Dind. 599 We..no tidi atir in templus araie. 1393 Langl. P. Pl. C. xiii. 187 Seedes þat been sowen and mowe suffre wyntres, Aren tydyour and tower. 1513 Douglas æneis iii. iv. 23 Flockis and hirdis of oxin and of fee, Fat and tydye. 1573 Tusser Husb. (1878) 131 If weather be faire, and tidie thy graine, Make speedily carrege, for feare of a raine. 1597 Shakes. 2 Hen. IV, ii. iv. 250 Thou whorson little tydie Bartholmew Bore-pigge. 1607 Topsell Four-f. Beasts (1658) 518 When a Sow is very fat she hath alway but little milk, and therefore is not apt to make any good tidy Pigs. 1714 Gay Sheph. Week, Friday 76 Before my Eyes will trip the tidy Lass. 1803 R. Anderson Cumbld. Ball. 56 Bonny, teydey, blithe was she. 1808 Jamieson, A tydy bairn, a child that is plump and thriving. 1881 Grant White Eng. Without & Within xvi. 387 Among them [the lower middle class] a tidy girl means a pretty girl, and particularly a girl with a good figure. |
3. As an indefinite epithet of admiration or commendation.
† a. Good, excellent, satisfactory, useful; of good character or ability; worthy, brave; able, skilful. (Also ironically.)
Obs.| c 1350 Will. Palerne 2496 Forto telle what tidde of þat tide werwolf. Ibid. 5384 Al þat touched þer to a tidi erldome, To þe kowherd & his wif þe king ȝaf þat time. 1393 Langl. P. Pl. C. xxii. 441 Trauaileþ..for a tretour al-so sore As for a trewe tydy man. c 1400 Destr. Troy 1035 Soudiours..Of the tidiest of Tessaile, tore men of strenght. 1567 Drant Horace, Ep. ii. ii. H j, A seruaunte at his masters beck tydie, prompte, preste and fyne. 1613 Beaum. & Fl. Coxcomb. ii. i, Thou art the tidiest wittol..I think above ground. a 1625 Fletcher Woman's Prize iv. ii, What a hap had I, And what a tydie fortune, when my fate Flung me upon this bear-whelp? |
b. Now in lighter use: Fairly satisfactory, ‘pretty good’, ‘fair’ (in quality); decent, of a good sort; nice. (
colloq.)
| 1844 Dickens Lett. (ed. 2) I 116 Which I thought for a coastguardman was rather a tidy question. 1851 Mayhew Lond. Labour I. 133 Parsons and doctors are often ‘tidy customers’. 1865 Dickens Mut. Fr. iii. i, A tidy shot that, I flatter myself. 1899 E. Phillpotts Human Boy iii. 82, I hope he did [succeed], for he was a tidy chap, though queer. |
c. Considerable (in amount or degree); ‘pretty big’.
a tidy penny = ‘a pretty penny’ (
pretty a. 5). (
colloq.)
| 1838 Dickens Nich. Nick. xxxii, You came along at a tidy pace. 1851 Mayhew Lond. Labour I. 352 If it is just after quarter-day, she generally gets a tidy tip. 1854 Househ. Words IX. 69/1, I have a tidy penny in the funds. 1881 Blackmore Christowell ii, A horse who had been to Exeter and back with a tidy load. 1893 Lady Burton Sir. R. F. Burton II. 252 A very large garden..wherein one could take a very tidy walk. 1903 Sir M. G. Gerard Leaves fr. Diaries ix. 324 They do swear a tidy bit. |
4. (The chief current use.)
a. Of persons: Orderly in habits, or in personal appearance; disposed to keep things (or one's person or dress) neat and in order.
| 1706 Phillips (ed. Kersey), Tidy, handy, neat, clean, as A tidy Servant. a 1800 Pegge Suppl. Grose, Tidy, neat. North. 1818 Scott Hrt. Midl. xxxiii, If thou knowest of any tidy lass like thysell, that wanted a place, and could bring a good character. 1831 D. E. Williams Life & Corr. Sir T. Lawrence II. 72 [The child] folds up her things like a tidy lady's maid. 1849 Lytton Caxtons 13 My dear mother was the tidiest woman in the world. |
b. Of things,
esp. of a house, room, receptacle, etc.: Neatly arranged; with nothing in disorder or out of place; orderly, neat, trim.
| 1828 Webster s.v., The children are tidy; their dress is tidy... The apartments are well furnished and tidy. 1840 Dickens Barn. Rudge iv, There was not a neater, more scrupulously tidy, or more punctiliously ordered house in Clerkenwell. 1859 Habits Gd. Soc. viii. 271 Some underbred ladies..put tidy their work-boxes, making you feel that you are secondary. 1880 Jefferies Gt. Estate 201 He objected to cut and trim them [shrubs, etc.]. ‘For’, said he, ‘God made nothing tidy’. |
5. Comb., as
tidy-mindedness;
tidy-looking,
tidy-minded,
tidy-sized (in sense 3)
adjs.;
tidy-betty, an ash-pan (
dial.);
tidy bin, a bin into which things may be discarded or tidied away, a waste-bin.
| 1884 Health Exhib. Catal. 71/2 Front Damper acting as a ‘Tidy Betty’ with Cinder-sifter. 1900 Leeds Mercury 9 May, He struck her on the head with a ‘tidy-betty’, and then kicked her with his clogs. |
| 1972 House & Garden Dec. 84/3 Colourful bathroom accessories, including shelf units, tidy bins, mirrors. 1978 People's Friend 13 May 3/3 Lifting some toffee papers and preparing to transfer them to the tidy bin, she spotted the torn photograph. |
| 1825 J. Neal Bro. Jonathan I. 19 He was a small, meagre,..tidy-looking somebody. |
| 1900 J. K. Jerome 3 Men on Bummel vii. 156 Fit for a tidy-minded lover of German nature. |
| 1951 Essays & Studies IV. 21 Too much tidy-mindedness and love of classification. 1975 J. P. Morgan House of Lords & Labour Govt. vi. 163 Even if administrative tidy-mindedness..was the motive behind the Seats Bill.., its consequences would still transcend any administrative convenience. |
| 1922 Joyce Ulysses 628, I want to see everyone..having a comfortable tidysized income. 1945 W. de la Mare Scarecrow 128 ‘Lor bless me,’ said Alice. ‘The questions he asks!’.. ‘And that's a tidy-sized one too!’ said Alice, smiling at him again. |
B. n. 1. A name for various articles intended to keep persons or things tidy or neat.
a. A pinafore or overall.
dial.| a 1825 Forby Voc. E. Anglia, Tidy, a light outer covering worn by children, to keep their clothes from dirt and grease. |
b. An ornamental loose covering for the back of a chair or the like, usually of fancy work; an antimacassar.
| 1850 Knickerb. Mag. XXXVI. 255 (Thornton Amer. Gloss.) One cane-seated rocking-chair, the back of which is covered with an unapproachable netting of spotless white, called a ‘tidy’. 1861 J. Pycroft Agony Point (1862) 126 After a few magic passes—the placing of a screen, the arrangement of a tidy or the folds of a curtain,..—a room..becomes..instinct with life, and grace, and comfort. 1882 L. C. Lillie Prudence 61 Is that a tidy? Yes... They call them antimacassars and sofa-backs here. |
c. A bag or other receptacle in which to keep scraps, odds and ends, etc.; a work-bag; a toilet-tidy.
| 1828 Craven Gloss., Tidy, a work bag, &c. 1863 B. Jerrold Signals Distress 207 It was in the days when..every scrap of cotton or linen found its way into the ‘tidy’. |
2. An act of making tidy; a period of time devoted to tidying. Freq. with
-up.
| 1909 E. Nesbit Daphne in Fitzroy St. ix. 122 The dreadful neatness that follows a ‘good tidy-up’. 1915 Kipling Diversity of Creatures (1917) 428 We'll pull up the blinds and we'll have a general tidy. 1949 N. Streatfeild Painted Garden xiii. 140 Rachel was going on to tell Jane to give her hair a tidy. 1970 C. Whitman Death out of Focus ix. 141, I bustled around..giving my flat a rough tidy-up. 1971 H. Wilson Labour Govt. xxxvi. 756, I went for a quick wash and tidy-up. 1980 ‘T. Hinde’ Daymate i. vi. 53 [She] is coming to give his house its Saturday morning tidy. |
C. adv. Tidily; pretty well; nicely, finely; also
ironical.
dial. or
vulgar.
| 1824 in Spirit Pub. Jrnls. (1825) 347 They've served me pretty tidy going along,..punching at me with their shilaleaghs as they would at a woolsack. 1851 Mayhew Lond. Labour I. 355 Them as could patter tidy did the best. 1904 Eng. Dial. Dict. s.v., That there oak's coming out quite tidy. |
Hence
ˈtidyism (
nonce-wd.), a principle or practice of extreme tidiness.
| 1856 C. M. Yonge Daisy Chain i. ix, His funny little old bachelor tidyisms. |
▪ II. ˈtidy, v. Chiefly
colloq. [f. tidy a.] trans. To make tidy or orderly; to put in order; to arrange neatly;
refl. to put one's hair, dress, etc. in order; to make oneself neat. Often with
up.
| 1821 Miss Mitford in L'Estrange Life (1870) II. 127, I mean to..have it whitened and tidied up this summer. 1847 C. Brontë J. Eyre iv, Bessie..employed me as a sort of under nursery maid, to tidy the room, dust the chairs, &c. 1868 F. E. Paget Lucretia 106 When the cook went up stairs, after tea, to tidy herself. 1897 M. Kingsley W. Africa 73, My notes for a day will contain facts relating to the kraw-kraw, price of onions,..genealogies,..law cases,..&c., &c. And the undertaking of tidying these things up is no small one. 1898 G. B. Shaw Plays II. Candida 131 The large table has been cleared and tidied. |
b. To stow
away or clear
up for the sake of tidiness.
| 1867 [see tidying below]. 1884 Nonconformist 1 May, It was left on the hall table..and had been ‘tidied up’ by one of those..housemaids who are the bane of every busy man. 1906 Westm. Gaz. 5 July 2/1 If anything is broken or tidied away beyond recall. |
Hence
ˈtidying vbl. n. and ppl. a.; also with
-up.
| 1867 H. Latham Black & White 90 After such a war..there is no small amount of sweeping up, and tidying away,..to be done. 1884 Blackw. Mag. Dec. 734/2 Comte de Rivaulx! echoed Madame, pausing in her tidying. 1899 Westm. Gaz. 7 Jan. 3/2 Lovers of nature..view with horror the onslaughts of these tidying gentlemen. 1959 N. Marsh False Scent (1960) iv. 102 When they arrived..the tidying-up process had considerably advanced. 1964 M. McLuhan Understanding Media ii. xx. 197 This immense tidying-up of our inner lives..has had its obvious parallels in our attempts to rearrange our homes and gardens. 1975 S. Brett Cast, in Order of Disappearance vi. 47 He'd..even done a token tidying-up of his room. |