# saying origins **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [February 3, 2004, 10:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/saying-origins/227390 "2004-02-03T22:49:02Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 5\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![lilmcgil](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/bbe5ce/32.png) [@lilmcgil](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lilmcgil)\ **Post date:** [February 3, 2004, 10:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/saying-origins/227390/1 "2004-02-03T22:49:02Z")
after much debate I thought I would come here to get the correct answer. The saying “Good night, sleep tight”… what does “sleep tight” mean and where did it originate? ---
**Author:** ![bonzer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/45deac/32.png) [@bonzer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bonzer)\ **Post date:** [February 3, 2004, 11:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/saying-origins/227390/2 "2004-02-03T23:23:39Z")
Others will no doubt be along with better references, but Partridge’s _Dictionary of Historical Slang_ (Penguin, 1972) merely lists “sleep tight, mind the fleas don’t bite” as “A children’s bed-time [catchphrase]: late C.19-20.” There’s the presumably related entry on “tight, sit” in the sense of “To sit close, stay under cover, not to budge”, dating from the mid-1890s. In our family it’s always been “… watch the bugs don’t bite”. ---
**Author:** ![samclem](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a9a28c/32.png) [@samclem](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/samclem)\ **Post date:** [February 4, 2004, 12:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/saying-origins/227390/3 "2004-02-04T00:08:29Z")
For sure it didn’t have anything to do with Shakespearean times and rope beds, etc. The glurge, doncha know. ---
**Author:** ![Quiddity](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/q/65b543/32.png) [@Quiddity](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Quiddity)\ **Post date:** [February 4, 2004, 12:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/saying-origins/227390/4 "2004-02-04T00:13:59Z")
From [here](http://www.wordorigins.org/wordors.htm#sleep): > [@](#): > > One of the archaic senses of tight means soundly or roundly. It dates to the late 18th century and survives today only in the phrase sleep tight. The usage postdates Shakespeare and Elizabethan England by a century or so. ---
**Author:** ![MelCthefirst](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/eada6e/32.png) [@MelCthefirst](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MelCthefirst)\ **Post date:** [February 4, 2004, 2:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/saying-origins/227390/5 "2004-02-04T02:29:26Z")
When visiting Shakespears house and staring at the bed, I was told (by the guide) that it was because of the rope beds, as has already been mentioned. There was also this contraption that you used to twist and tighten the rope that the mattress was placed upon. It was thought that if the rope was tight, you would get a good nights sleep.