tight-arsed

Adjective

tight-assed (comparative more tight-assed, superlative most tight-assed)

1. (derogatory, informal) Rigidly maintaining self-control; restricting oneself to generally accepted rules and behaviours.
   • 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

   Synonyms:

   conservative, conventional, inhibited, repressed, straight-laced, stuffy, uptight

   Antonyms:

   easy-going, laid-back, relaxed

2. (derogatory, informal) Excessively 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

   Synonyms:

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

3. (derogatory, informal) Reluctant 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

   Synonyms:

   miserly, stingy, tight-fisted

4. (informal) Having firm or clenched buttocks.
   • 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. (informal) Fitting tightly in the area covering the buttocks.
   • There is no room in his tight-assed pants for his dangling hands.1967, Wright Morris, In Orbit, Chapter 6, in Two for the Road, Santa Rosa: Black Sparrow Press, 1994, p. 264

See all 6 meanings of tight-assed