# tidy
## English
### Etymology

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”).

### Pronunciation

* IPA: /ˈtaɪdi/
** Audio (Southern England):(file)
* Rhymes: -aɪdi

### Adjective

tidy (comparative tidier, superlative tidiest)
* Arranged neatly and in order.
    She always kept her desk immaculately tidy; nothing was ever out of place.
* Not messy; neat and controlled.
    Keep Britain tidy by picking up litter.
* (colloquial) Satisfactory; comfortable.
* (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.
* (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
* (obsolete) Brave; smart; skillful; fine; good.
* Appropriate or suitable as regards occasion, circumstances, arrangement, or order.
* (data science, of data in a dataset) Normalized in a certain way that optimizes for data analysis.

#### Synonyms

* (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

#### Antonyms

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

#### Derived terms

* neat and tidy

#### Related terms

* tidily
* tidiness

#### Translations
### Verb

tidy (third-person singular simple present tidies, present participle tidying, simple past and past participle tidied)
* To make tidy; to neaten.

#### Derived terms

* tidy one's sock drawer
* tidy up

#### Translations
### Noun

tidy (plural tidies)
* (Can we verify this sense?) (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’.
* A cover, often of tatting, drawn work, or other ornamental work, for the back of a chair, the arms of a sofa, etc.
* (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.
* 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

#### Derived terms

* cable tidy
* desk tidy
* hair-tidy
* sink tidy
* tidy-up

#### Translations
### Interjection

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