Advertisement
Advertisement
tight as a drum
Idioms and Phrases
Taut or close-fitting; also, watertight. For example, That baby's eaten so much that the skin on his belly is tight as a drum , or You needn't worry about leaks; this tent is tight as a drum . Originally this expression alluded to the skin of a drumhead, which is tightly stretched, and in the mid-1800s was transferred to other kinds of tautness. Later, however, it sometimes referred to a drum-shaped container, such as an oil drum, which had to be well sealed to prevent leaks, and the expression then signified “watertight.â€Example Sentences
The dilemma is obvious: public money is tight as a drum, and Downing Street doesn't want to take cash from the NHS or other priorities at home.
“The house was tight as a drum,†she said.
“Tight as a drumâ€, was how the local beat bobby described the people on his patch.
Labour will then need to come up with new ways of paying for those ideas at a time when public money is as tight as a drum.
“I do my chores, too,†he said: washing the dishes and making the bed, tight as a drum, as he was taught at Camp Nebagamon when he was 10.
Advertisement
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
Advertisement
Advertisement
Advertisement
Browse