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Phrase(s): *tight as a tick
1. very tight. (Fig. on the image of a tick swollen tight with blood or of a tick stuck tightly in someone’s skin. *Also: as ~.) • This lid is screwed on tight as a tick. • The windows were closed—tight as a tick—to keep the cold out. 2. intoxicated. (Fig. on full as a tick. *Also: as ~.) • The old man was tight as a tick but still lucid. • The host got tight as a tick and fell in the pool. 3. [of a race] close, as if the racers are moving very closely together. (*Also: as ~.) • This election is as tight as a tick. 4. very friendly and close; as thick as thieves. (*Also: as ~.) • Those two are tight as a tick. They are always together.
McGrawhill's American Idioms And Phrasal Verbs