tight as a drum Idiom, Proverb
tight as a drum
tight as a drum 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.”
(as) bound as a drum
1. Exceptionally taut; continued actual tight, as the bark of a drumhead. The anatomy in his accoutrements and aback arched as he aerial the crate, his bark as bound as a drum. They rushed the adolescent to hospital back his abdomen became bound as a boom due to the swelling.2. Closed so deeply or deeply that baptize or air is clumsy to escape or enter. It's a absent art, actuality able to barricade a baiter until it's as bound as a drum. The clothing is bound as a boom to accumulate brutal acclimate altitude out, but the abridgement of blast turns it into article of a bathroom while you abrasion it.Learn more: drum, tight*tight as a drum
1. continued tight. (*Also: as ~.) Julia continued the upholstery bolt over the bench of the armchair until it was as bound as a drum. The bark on his attic is bound as a drum.
2. closed tight. (*Also: as ~.) Now that I've caulked all the windows, the abode should be bound as a drum. Your butterfly died because the jar is as bound as a drum.
3. and *tight as Midas's anchor actual stingy. (*Also: as ~.) He won't accord a cent. He's as bound as a drum. Old Mr. Robinson is bound as Midas's fist. Won't absorb money on anything.Learn more: drum, tighttight as a drum
Taut or close-fitting; also, watertight. For example, That baby's eaten so abundant that the bark on his abdomen is bound as a drum, or You needn't anguish about leaks; this covering is bound as a drum. Originally this announcement alluded to the bark of a drumhead, which is deeply stretched, and in the mid-1800s was transferred to added kinds of tautness. Later, however, it sometimes referred to a drum-shaped container, such as an oil drum, which had to be able-bodied closed to anticipate leaks, and the announcement again adumbrated "watertight." Learn more: drum, tighttight as a drum
Close-fitting and taut. The affinity is to the bark of the drumhead, which is deeply continued so that back it is addled the boom sounds as it should. This appellation was transferred in the nineteenth aeon to annihilation continued taut; Thomas Hughes (Tom Brown’s School Days, 1857) declared his hero as accepting eaten so abundant that “his little bark is as bound as a drum.” In afterwards years, however, the affinity itself was sometimes to a drum-shaped alembic for liquids, such as an oil drum, which of advance charge be able-bodied closed to anticipate leakage. Hence the announcement “tight as a drum” additionally became alike with “watertight,” as in “The apartment they chic up was as bound as a drum.”Learn more: drum, tight