Green’s Dictionary of Slang

1. (orig. US) a mean person, a skinflint, thus attrib.

1965		E. Bond Saved Scene vi: len: [...] Give us a snout. fred: No. len: Tight arse.
1988		Guardian 27 Aug. 16/6: Baker the [...] tight-arse Edinburgh lawyer.
1991		(con. 1920s) O.D. Brooks Legs 142: You’re gonna freeze your nuts off for a lousy handout from some tight-ass who’ll hand you a half buck and figure he’s doing you a favor.
1996		Sydney Morn. Herald 5 Jan. 13/3: ‘I am a renowned tight-arse — even if I was rich and famous I’d still live like a peasant’.
2000		P. Howard Miseducation of Ross O’Carroll-Kelly (2004) 150: He thinks it’s too much, the focking tightorse.
2001		Sydney Morning Herald (Aus.) 6 Jan. n.p.: So here’s a tentative guide to Sydney teenspeak: [...] Tightass (one who won’t hand out money hand over fist).
2011		D.R. Pollock Devil All the Time 107: ‘The tight ass won’t hire no extra help’.

2. (also tight-butt) a puritan, a moral conservative; also as adj. [from sense 1].

1979		Lette & Carey Puberty Blues 88: Garry didn’t hassle me. I’d say no and he’d shut up. But as I didn’t want to be a tight-arse it couldn’t go on like this forever.
1981		H. Gould Fort Apache, The Bronx 167: This tight ass is makin’ a career move on our backs.
1994		N. McCall Makes Me Wanna Holler (1995) 116: I’d thought he was just another tight-butt old-head.
1995		C. Hiaasen Stormy Weather 191: Tough guy? Tightass? What’s his deal?
1997		R. Rendell Road Rage (1998) 300: I’m not saying a word to a right little tight-arse like you.
2001		J. Stahl Plainclothes Naked (2002) 188: In spite of all the plates he had spinning [...] the only thing Manny could think about was Tina calling him a tight-ass.

3. (Aus.) an irritating parent [f. sense 1].

2001

Sydney Morning Herald (Aus.) 6 Jan. n.p.: So here’s a tentative guide to Sydney teenspeak: [...] Tightass (an irritating parent).

4. a sexually attractive woman.

2001

‘Randy Everhard’ Tattoo of a Naked Lady 22: That tight-ass you been carrying on with is the boss’s wife.

5. (US) an emotionally closed-down individual.

2012

T. Piccirilli Last Kind Words 122: He probably thought that I was distant, cold, a tightass.