tidy

From Middle English tidy, tydy, tidi (“timely, seasonal, opportune”), from tide (“time”) +‎ -y. Cognate with Saterland Frisian tiedig (“timely, early”), Dutch tijdig (“timely”), German Low German tiedig (“timely”), German zeitig (“seasonal, timely”), Danish tidig (“timely”), Swedish tidig (“timely”).

• IPA^(key): /ˈtaɪdi/

  • Audio (Southern England):

    (file)

• Rhymes: -aɪdi

tidy (comparative tidier, superlative tidiest)

1. Arranged neatly and in order.

   She always kept her desk immaculately tidy; nothing was ever out of place.

2. Not messy; neat and controlled.

   Keep Britain tidy by picking up litter.

3. (colloquial) Satisfactory; comfortable.
4. (colloquial) Generous, considerable.

   The scheme made a tidy profit.

   • c. 1921 (date written), Karel Čapek, translated by Paul Selver, R.U.R. (Rossum’s Universal Robots): A Fantastic Melodrama […], Garden City, N.Y.: Doubleday, Page & Company, published 1923, →OCLC, Act 1:

     Two hundred thousand people! Miss Glory, that's a tidy lot. Not bad.

5. (obsolete) In good time; at the right time; timely; seasonable; opportune; favourable; fit; suitable.
   • 1573, Thomas Tusser, Five Hundred Points of Good Husbandry:

     if weather be fair and tidy

6. (obsolete) Brave; smart; skillful; fine; good.
7. Appropriate or suitable as regards occasion, circumstances, arrangement, or order.
8. (data science, of data in a dataset) Normalized in a certain way that optimizes for data analysis.

• (arranged neatly): neat, orderly, presentable, spick and span; see also Thesaurus:orderly or Thesaurus:clean
• (at the right time): opportune, seasonable; see also Thesaurus:timely
• (appropriate or suitable): apt, fit; see also Thesaurus:suitable

• (antonym(s) of “not messy”): messy, untidy

• tidily
• tidiness

tidy (third-person singular simple present tidies, present participle tidying, simple past and past participle tidied)

1. To make tidy; to neaten.

tidy (plural tidies)

1. (now chiefly in combination with a modifier) A container or other device for storing or organizing loose items in a tidy fashion.

   desk tidy; sink tidy; cable tidy

   • 1863, William Blanchard Jerrold, Signals of distress, in refuges and homes of charity, London, page 207:

     It was in the days when […] every scrap of cotton or linen found its way into the ‘tidy’.

   • 1895 July 6, The Ironmonger: Builders Merchant and Hardwareman, page 13:

     NORRIS'S SINK TIDY. J NORRIS AND SONS, Sunningdale, near Ascot, the inventors of the "Little Friend" soap-tray, have extended the usefulness of this utensil by designing a sink-tidy for carrying three of the trays in the manner shown in the engraving. The tidy is formed by a strip of light wood […] The price at which the tidy is offered virtually places it within the reach of everyone.

   • 2020, James Ward, The Perfection of the Paperclip, page 11:

     Inside there it was, the 1337 Revolving Desk Tidy. […] The round "tidy" was divided into six segments "for all types of small sundries," and looked a bit like a grapefruit cut across the middle.

2. A cover, often of tatting, drawn work, or other ornamental work, for the back of a chair, the arms of a sofa, etc.
3. (dated) A child's pinafore.
   • 1846, Miss Lambert, The Handbook of Needlework:

     A much coarser cotton, according to the fancy of the worker, may be used for the trimmings of night dresses, petticoats, D'Oyleys, tidies, etc.

4. The wren.
   • 1612, Michael Drayton, chapter 13, in [John Selden], editor, Poly-Olbion. Or A Chorographicall Description of Tracts, Riuers, Mountaines, Forests, and Other Parts of this Renowned Isle of Great Britaine, […], London: […] [Humphrey Lownes] for M[athew] Lownes; I[ohn] Browne; I[ohn] Helme; I[ohn] Busbie, →OCLC:

     The Tydie for her notes as delicate as they

tidy

1. (Wales) Expression of agreement or positive acknowledgement, usually in reply to a question; great, fine.