Maggie Cramer
June 28, 2020
Common Phrases
As a kid, did your parents ever tell you to “sleep tight” when they tucked you into bed? Perhaps you now say these words to your own children when wishing them goodnight. But do you know what the phrase actually means? How about where it came from? Let’s explore its definition and possible origins.
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Simply put, the common expression sleep tight means “sleep well.” If you tell someone to sleep tight, you’re wishing them a good night’s rest—slumber that is comfortable, safe, sound, warm, cozy, deep, peaceful, uninterrupted… and the list of positive adjectives could go on and on. In other words, you’re definitely not stating your desire that they toss and turn and unsuccessfully count sheep all evening! It’s a kind and sweet expression.
Here are some example sentences using the phrase sleep tight:
You may have also heard a longer version of the expression: sleep tight, don’t let the bedbugs bite. Read more about the possible origins of this addition to the phrase below, but know that the longer phrase still means “sleep well.” Bedbug bites can be extremely itchy and painful. You aren’t likely to sleep comfortably and soundly when getting bit by pesky pests all over! Even though having bedbugs is unpleasant, like sleep tight, the full expression sleep tight, don’t let the bedbugs bite is still a nice, caring thing to say to someone.
Over the years, several possible theories have circulated about the phrase’s origin.
One is that the expression came into use at a time before box springs, when mattresses were supported by bed frames made of wood and horizontal and vertical ropes woven in a criss-cross pattern. These ropes occasionally needed to be tightened and pulled taut to keep the mattress firmly supported and prevent sagging. A saggy mattress would make for a poor night’s slumber, thus the phrase sleep tight. Interestingly, it’s said that hosts with these beds who didn’t want their guests staying any longer would loosen the ropes to make them uncomfortable and get them to leave!
Some people believe the expression originated on navy ships. Sailors would often have to sleep in precarious ways in small and crowded spaces, such as in tiny cots or hammocks. The story goes they would wrap themselves up tightly in blankets so they wouldn’t move around in their sleep and would be less likely to fall out of bed if waters got rough.
Other speculations revolve around the longer phrase sleep tight, don’t let the bedbugs bite. People think this phrase could have been in reference to keeping pajamas tight to avoid being bitten, or to pulling a sheet or other bedclothes tight over the mattress to protect one’s self from the nipping insects. Going back to the fact that the ropes of older beds needed to be tightened, there’s also a theory that doing so kept the mattress off the floor and out of the reach of the critters, and thus the phrase was born.
Most experts agree that none of these theories really add up. Why?
To begin with, it appears the expression is actually pretty new in our history—at least recent enough that it wouldn’t have been widely in use when rope beds were common. (The first patent for a mattress coil spring was issued in 1865, and the rope beds introduced in the 16th century fell out of fashion almost immediately as new options were presented.) Likewise, when it came into use, the conditions on ships probably weren’t bad enough to warrant sailors’ extra precautions.
Perhaps the earliest known usage of the phrase dates to 1866 and Susan Bradford Eppes in her diary Through Some Eventful Years. She writes, “All is ready and we leave as soon as breakfast is over. Goodbye little Diary. ‘Sleep tight and wake bright,’ for I will need you when I return.”
Indeed, language experts point to the 1860s and 1870s as the originating time period of sleep tight, while sleep tight, don’t let the bedbugs bite seems to have begun circulating a bit later, in the 1880s. Several books written in the late 1880s as well as the 1890s include this longer version of the expression. Both phrases only became increasingly popular and more widely used in the years that followed their introductions into the world. In 1927, F. Scott Fitzgerald used sleep tight, don’t let the bedbugs bite in one of his works. The Oxford English Dictionary begins cataloguing instances of sleep tight around 1933.
Not to mention the inconsistencies regarding bedbugs, which live in mattresses and not on floors. Plus, as anyone who’s ever dealt with bedbugs knows, once they’re in your mattress, there’s not much you can do to keep from being bitten, tight sheets or otherwise.
The likely origin is much less fantastical than any possibilities mentioned so far: In the mid-19th century, a common definition and understanding of the word tight was “soundly” or “in a sound or secure manner.” Hence, the use of sleep tight to mean “sleep well.” Perhaps tight was chosen because it rhymes with goodnight, making for a catchy phrase to say to children and loved ones. That’s also likely why don’t let the bed bugs bite was added.
Of course, today we most often take tight to mean close together and closely packed, or fitting snugly—allowing little room for movement. It’s also often used to indicate a close relationship.
Sleep tight is an idiomatic expression. An idiom is a phrase with an intended meaning that can’t fully be understood just by looking at the words that comprise it. These words and phrases have a figurative rather than literal meaning: They don’t mean what they appear to mean. Even if you’ve never heard the term idiom, you have most likely heard many idiomatic expressions. Here are just a few of the most common idioms used today:
You’re in hot water.
His boss gave him the ax.
It’s time to face the music.
You’ve hit the nail on the head.
If you took the first example literally, you’d think it was describing a person standing in a bathtub full of hot water, perhaps. But the expression is actually used to describe a person who’s in trouble. Likewise, rather than literally being handed a tool for chopping wood, if you get the ax from your boss, it means you’re getting fired. It’s time to face the music means that it’s time to come to terms with the consequences of your actions. And when someone has hit the nail on the head, they’ve gotten an answer exactly right or done something exactly as it should have been done.
As previously established, tight has changed meaning over time. If you were to take the expression literally using today’s common definition of tight as “a close relationship” or “intimacy,” it wouldn’t make much sense. That said, thinking of the meaning of tight as “snug,” you could more easily figure out the phrases’s intended definition, as to sleep snuggly is for the most part synonymous with sleeping well. Of course, knowing the more antiquated definition of tight as “soundly” or “properly” is a big help to deciphering the idiomatic phrase, which is used figuratively to wish someone a good night’s rest.
Other examples of idioms include beating a dead horse and the show must go on; learn the meanings of many more idioms here.
Sleep tight is an idiomatic expression that means “sleep well.” It’s often preceded by goodnight and is used as part of the longer phrase sleep tight, don’t let the bedbugs bite.
