"tight as a tick" meaning in English

{
  "head_templates": [
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "-"
      },
      "expansion": "tight as a tick (not comparable)",
      "name": "en-adj"
    }
  ],
  "lang": "English",
  "lang_code": "en",
  "pos": "adj",
  "senses": [
    {
      "categories": [
        {
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "English similes",
          "parents": [],
          "source": "w"
        }
      ],
      "examples": [
        {
          "ref": "1933, Irving Berlin, “Eighteenth Amen Repealed”, in The Complete Lyrics of Irving Berlin, page 290",
          "text": "For there ain't no kick\nGetting tight as a tick\nWhen you know that you're not breaking the law",
          "type": "quotation"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "Drunk, inebriated."
      ],
      "id": "en-tight_as_a_tick-en-adj-wRShvvpN",
      "links": [
        [
          "Drunk",
          "drunk"
        ],
        [
          "inebriated",
          "inebriated"
        ]
      ],
      "qualifier": "simile",
      "raw_glosses": [
        "(slang, simile) Drunk, inebriated."
      ],
      "synonyms": [
        {
          "_dis1": "96 2 1",
          "sense": "drunk, inebriated",
          "word": "drunk"
        }
      ],
      "tags": [
        "not-comparable",
        "slang"
      ],
      "translations": [
        {
          "_dis1": "96 2 1",
          "code": "ru",
          "lang": "Russian",
          "roman": "pʹjányj v dosku",
          "sense": "drunk, inebriated",
          "tags": [
            "colloquial",
            "informal"
          ],
          "word": "пья́ный в доску"
        },
        {
          "_dis1": "96 2 1",
          "code": "ru",
          "lang": "Russian",
          "roman": "pʹjányj v dupelʹ",
          "sense": "drunk, inebriated",
          "word": "пья́ный в дупель"
        },
        {
          "_dis1": "96 2 1",
          "code": "ru",
          "lang": "Russian",
          "roman": "pʹjányj v stelʹku",
          "sense": "drunk, inebriated",
          "word": "пья́ный в стельку"
        },
        {
          "_dis1": "96 2 1",
          "code": "ru",
          "lang": "Russian",
          "roman": "v soplju pʹjányj",
          "sense": "drunk, inebriated",
          "word": "в соплю пья́ный"
        }
      ]
    },
    {
      "categories": [
        {
          "_dis": "3 62 35",
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "English entries with incorrect language header",
          "parents": [
            "Entries with incorrect language header",
            "Entry maintenance"
          ],
          "source": "w+disamb"
        }
      ],
      "examples": [
        {
          "ref": "2002, Steven Callahan, Adrift: Seventy-Six Days Lost at Sea, page 115",
          "text": "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.",
          "type": "quotation"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "Fully inflated; swollen near to bursting."
      ],
      "id": "en-tight_as_a_tick-en-adj-MV0uosDM",
      "links": [
        [
          "inflated",
          "inflated"
        ],
        [
          "swollen",
          "swollen"
        ]
      ],
      "synonyms": [
        {
          "_dis1": "1 98 1",
          "sense": "fully inflated",
          "word": "full"
        },
        {
          "_dis1": "1 98 1",
          "sense": "fully inflated",
          "word": "full as a tick"
        },
        {
          "_dis1": "1 98 1",
          "sense": "fully inflated",
          "word": "inflated"
        },
        {
          "_dis1": "1 98 1",
          "sense": "fully inflated",
          "word": "overinflated"
        },
        {
          "_dis1": "1 98 1",
          "sense": "fully inflated",
          "word": "swollen"
        }
      ],
      "tags": [
        "not-comparable"
      ]
    },
    {
      "categories": [
        {
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "English similes",
          "parents": [],
          "source": "w"
        }
      ],
      "examples": [
        {
          "ref": "2003, Anna Quindlen, Blessings: a Novel, page 215",
          "text": "\"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.\"",
          "type": "quotation"
        },
        {
          "ref": "2003, Rita Mae Brown, Catch as Cat Can, page 20",
          "text": "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.",
          "type": "quotation"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "Unwilling to spend money."
      ],
      "id": "en-tight_as_a_tick-en-adj-TWZqkbQ7",
      "links": [
        [
          "spend",
          "spend"
        ],
        [
          "money",
          "money"
        ]
      ],
      "qualifier": "simile",
      "raw_glosses": [
        "(slang, simile) Unwilling to spend money."
      ],
      "synonyms": [
        {
          "_dis1": "1 4 95",
          "sense": "unwilling to spend money",
          "word": "miserly"
        }
      ],
      "tags": [
        "not-comparable",
        "slang"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "sounds": [
    {
      "audio": "en-au-tight as a tick.ogg",
      "mp3_url": "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/transcoded/4/46/En-au-tight_as_a_tick.ogg/En-au-tight_as_a_tick.ogg.mp3",
      "ogg_url": "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/4/46/En-au-tight_as_a_tick.ogg",
      "tags": [
        "Australia"
      ],
      "text": "Audio (AU)"
    }
  ],
  "synonyms": [
    {
      "_dis1": "0 0 0",
      "word": "full as a goog"
    },
    {
      "_dis1": "0 0 0",
      "word": "full as a tick"
    },
    {
      "_dis1": "0 0 0",
      "word": "inebriated"
    },
    {
      "_dis1": "0 0 0",
      "word": "intoxicated"
    },
    {
      "_dis1": "0 0 0",
      "word": "drunk"
    },
    {
      "_dis1": "0 0 0",
      "word": "thrifty"
    },
    {
      "_dis1": "0 0 0",
      "word": "stingy"
    }
  ],
  "word": "tight as a tick"
}

{
  "categories": [
    "English adjectives",
    "English entries with incorrect language header",
    "English lemmas",
    "English multiword terms",
    "English terms with audio links",
    "English uncomparable adjectives"
  ],
  "head_templates": [
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "-"
      },
      "expansion": "tight as a tick (not comparable)",
      "name": "en-adj"
    }
  ],
  "lang": "English",
  "lang_code": "en",
  "pos": "adj",
  "senses": [
    {
      "categories": [
        "English similes",
        "English slang",
        "English terms with quotations",
        "Quotation templates to be cleaned"
      ],
      "examples": [
        {
          "ref": "1933, Irving Berlin, “Eighteenth Amen Repealed”, in The Complete Lyrics of Irving Berlin, page 290",
          "text": "For there ain't no kick\nGetting tight as a tick\nWhen you know that you're not breaking the law",
          "type": "quotation"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "Drunk, inebriated."
      ],
      "links": [
        [
          "Drunk",
          "drunk"
        ],
        [
          "inebriated",
          "inebriated"
        ]
      ],
      "qualifier": "simile",
      "raw_glosses": [
        "(slang, simile) Drunk, inebriated."
      ],
      "tags": [
        "not-comparable",
        "slang"
      ]
    },
    {
      "categories": [
        "English terms with quotations",
        "Quotation templates to be cleaned"
      ],
      "examples": [
        {
          "ref": "2002, Steven Callahan, Adrift: Seventy-Six Days Lost at Sea, page 115",
          "text": "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.",
          "type": "quotation"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "Fully inflated; swollen near to bursting."
      ],
      "links": [
        [
          "inflated",
          "inflated"
        ],
        [
          "swollen",
          "swollen"
        ]
      ],
      "tags": [
        "not-comparable"
      ]
    },
    {
      "categories": [
        "English similes",
        "English slang",
        "English terms with quotations",
        "Quotation templates to be cleaned"
      ],
      "examples": [
        {
          "ref": "2003, Anna Quindlen, Blessings: a Novel, page 215",
          "text": "\"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.\"",
          "type": "quotation"
        },
        {
          "ref": "2003, Rita Mae Brown, Catch as Cat Can, page 20",
          "text": "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.",
          "type": "quotation"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "Unwilling to spend money."
      ],
      "links": [
        [
          "spend",
          "spend"
        ],
        [
          "money",
          "money"
        ]
      ],
      "qualifier": "simile",
      "raw_glosses": [
        "(slang, simile) Unwilling to spend money."
      ],
      "tags": [
        "not-comparable",
        "slang"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "sounds": [
    {
      "audio": "en-au-tight as a tick.ogg",
      "mp3_url": "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/transcoded/4/46/En-au-tight_as_a_tick.ogg/En-au-tight_as_a_tick.ogg.mp3",
      "ogg_url": "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/4/46/En-au-tight_as_a_tick.ogg",
      "tags": [
        "Australia"
      ],
      "text": "Audio (AU)"
    }
  ],
  "synonyms": [
    {
      "sense": "drunk, inebriated",
      "word": "drunk"
    },
    {
      "word": "full as a goog"
    },
    {
      "word": "full as a tick"
    },
    {
      "word": "inebriated"
    },
    {
      "word": "intoxicated"
    },
    {
      "word": "drunk"
    },
    {
      "sense": "fully inflated",
      "word": "full"
    },
    {
      "sense": "fully inflated",
      "word": "full as a tick"
    },
    {
      "sense": "fully inflated",
      "word": "inflated"
    },
    {
      "sense": "fully inflated",
      "word": "overinflated"
    },
    {
      "sense": "fully inflated",
      "word": "swollen"
    },
    {
      "sense": "unwilling to spend money",
      "word": "miserly"
    },
    {
      "word": "thrifty"
    },
    {
      "word": "stingy"
    }
  ],
  "translations": [
    {
      "code": "ru",
      "lang": "Russian",
      "roman": "pʹjányj v dosku",
      "sense": "drunk, inebriated",
      "tags": [
        "colloquial",
        "informal"
      ],
      "word": "пья́ный в доску"
    },
    {
      "code": "ru",
      "lang": "Russian",
      "roman": "pʹjányj v dupelʹ",
      "sense": "drunk, inebriated",
      "word": "пья́ный в дупель"
    },
    {
      "code": "ru",
      "lang": "Russian",
      "roman": "pʹjányj v stelʹku",
      "sense": "drunk, inebriated",
      "word": "пья́ный в стельку"
    },
    {
      "code": "ru",
      "lang": "Russian",
      "roman": "v soplju pʹjányj",
      "sense": "drunk, inebriated",
      "word": "в соплю пья́ный"
    }
  ],
  "word": "tight as a tick"
}