tightener
English edit
Etymology edit
tighten + -er. Referring to a meal, suggests the tightening of one's belt around the expanding waistline.
Pronunciation edit
- (General American) IPA(key): /ˈtaɪtn̩ɚ/
- (Received Pronunciation) IPA(key): /ˈtaɪtn̩ə/
- Hyphenation: tight‧en‧er
Noun edit
tightener (plural tighteners)
- Something used to tighten.
- (UK, slang, archaic) A large meal; a feast or blowout.
- 184?, Henry Mayhew, London Labour and the London Poor
- One proposed going to Hungerford-market to do a feed on decayed shrimps or other offal laying about the market; another proposed going to Covent-garden to do a 'tightener' of rotten oranges, to which I was humorously invited; […]
- 1876, William Green, Charles Hindley, The Life and Adventures of a Cheap Jack, page 55:
- Now a belt like this is a great saving to a man inasmuch as he can save many a meal by wearing it; all you have to do if you want to save a meal is to buckle in a hole or two tighter, and you will feel as if you have had a tightener and will not miss your dinner for that day.
- 184?, Henry Mayhew, London Labour and the London Poor
References edit
- John Camden Hotten (1873) The Slang Dictionary