tight-shut

• “Misled, perhaps, by the ribbon at the buttonhole, and by an expression of reserve, almost of secretiveness, in the lines of the tight-shut mouth, one would rather have supposed one's self face to face with an eminent statesman or diplomatist.”

  Henrik Ibsen

• “Elizabeth pressed the lids to her tight-shut eyes.”

  Simon & Schuster: The Art Thief

• “Snowdrops with tight-shut buds were hanging very still under the bare currant bushes.”

  The Prussian Officer and Other Stories

• “When I left Darrowby the streets of the little town were empty in the gathering dusk and the houses had that tight-shut, comfortable look which raised images of armchairs and pipes and firesides, and now as I saw the lights of the farms winking on the fellsides I could picture the stocksmen dozing contentedly with their feet up.”

  Favourite Dog Stories

• “Gloha squeezed her expressive little eyes tight-shut closed.”

  Harpy Thyme

• “I drove through the tight-shut, sleeping little town, then onto the narrow road winding between its walls till the trees dwindled and disappeared, leaving the wide, windswept fells, bare and unwelcoming.”

  Every living thing

• “Roger opened his tight-shut mouth to say in a doubtful growl: "He'll not be travelling alone.”

  A Rare Benedictine

• “The small, contorted face, all wailing mouth and tight-shut eyes screwed up with annoyance, was round and clear-skinned, though red now with exertion and anger.”

  The Raven In The Foregate

• “His eyes were tight-shut against the deluge of the rain, he opened them only by burdened glimpses, peering through the downpour.”

  An Excellent Mystery

• “We sat with tight-shut teeth, -- only muttering now and then to each other, in a glum undertone, "Don't get nervous, -- don't throw a single shot away, -- take aim, -- remember it's for _home_!”

  The Atlantic Monthly, Volume 13, No. 78, April, 1864

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