Green’s Dictionary of Slang

tightwad adj.

(US) miserly.

1911		‘Sing Sing No. 57,700’ My View on Books in N.Y. Times Mag. 30 Apr. 5/6: An old tightwad squire that’ll make you feel like handing him one on the lug.
1918		‘Commander’ Clear the Decks! 169: It would be better than this awful tightwad part I have to play now.
1927		(con. 1900s) S. Lewis Elmer Gantry 197: Give ’em fits about tight-wad Christian business men, will you, Elmer?
1935		S. Lewis It Can’t Happen Here 337: ‘Who you going to arrest next, Shad?’ ‘Huh?’ ‘Oh come on! Don’t be so tightwad with all your secrets!’.
1940		E. O’Neill Iceman Cometh Act I: Don’t want de Boss to get wise when he’s got one of his tightwad buns on.
1947		B. Schulberg Harder They Fall (1971) 290: Let’s drink to ’im anyway, even if he was a selfish, tightwad bum.
2008		T. Piccirilli Fever Kill 118: My tightwad brother cared more for his money than his daughter.