Tidy, a. [Compar. Tidier; superl. Tidiest.]
Etymology: [From Tide time, season; cf. D. tijdig timely, G. zeitig, Dan. & Sw. tidig.]
1. Being in proper time; timely; seasonable; favorable; as, tidy weather. [Obs.] If weather be fair and tidy. Tusser.
2. Arranged in good order; orderly; appropriate; neat; kept in proper and becoming neatness, or habitually keeping things so; as, a tidy lass; their dress is tidy; the apartments are well furnished and tidy. A tidy man, that tened [injured] me never. Piers Plowman.
4 other Webster entries under this spelling
Tidy, n. (Zoöl.)
The wren; -- called also tiddy. [Prov. Eng.] The tidy for her notes as delicate as they. Drayton.
Note: This name is probably applied also to other small singing birds, as the goldcrest.
Tidy, n.; pl. Tidies (.
1. A cover, often of tatting, drawn work, or other ornamental work, for the back of a chair, the arms of a sofa, or the like.
2. A child's pinafore. [Prov. Eng.] Wright.
Tidy, v. t. [imp. & p. p. Tidied; p. pr. & vb. n. Tidying.]
To put in proper order; to make neat; as, to tidy a room; to tidy one's dress.
Tidy, v. i.
To make things tidy. [Colloq.] I have tidied and tidied over and over again. Dickens.
Shades of meaning
Fernald has no entry of its own for tidy; he lists it under neat.
Where he writes about it:
Tidy denotes that which conforms to propriety in general; an unlaced shoe may be perfectly clean, but is not tidy. — from neat
Neat refers to that which is clean and tidy with nothing superfluous, conspicuous, or showy, as when we speak of plain but neat attire; the same idea of freedom from the superfluous appears in the phrases "a neat speech," "a neat turn," "a neat reply," etc. — from neat