tucker

Very sleepy or fatigued, especially after long or continuous physical activity. I thought the kids would have been all tuckered out after spending all day at the pool, but they're still full of energy. I'm pretty tuckered out after that hike, to be honest. Climbing up those steps really got my poor old dog all tuckered out.

One's dressiest or most formal attire. A "bib" and a "tucker" are outdated clothing embellishments. Be sure to wear your best bib and tucker to the gala tonight. You can't wear jeans to a restaurant like this—you need to wear your best bib and tucker! Look at David in his best bib and tucker! So handsome!

To be very sleepy or fatigued, especially after long or continuous physical activity. I thought the kids would have been all tuckered out after spending all day at the pool, but they're still full of energy. I'm pretty tuckered out after that hike, to be honest. My poor old dog is all tuckered out after climbing up those steps.

To become very sleepy or fatigued, especially after long, continuous physical activity. Aw, the little guy got all tuckered out from our hike. I bet he'll sleep the whole way home. A: "I hope the kids got all tuckered out at the pool." B: "No, somehow, they're still full of energy!" My poor old dog got all tuckered out climbing up those steps.

Rur. tired out; worn out. (*Typically: be ~; get ~.) Poor John worked so hard that he's all tuckered out. Look at that little baby sleeping. She's really tuckered out.

Rur. one's best clothing. I always put on my best bib and tucker on Sundays. Put on your best bib and tucker, and let's go to the city.

to tire someone out. All this work has tuckered me out. The heavy work tuckered the staff out early in the day.

One's finest clothes, dressed up, as in The men were told to put on their best bib and tucker for the dinner dance. Although wearing either a bib (frill at front of a man's shirt) or a tucker (ornamental lace covering a woman's neck and shoulders) is obsolete, the phrase survives. [Mid-1700s] For a synonym, see Sunday best.

Exhausted, very tired, as in I was all tuckered out after that game. The precise origin of this usage is not known. [Colloquial; 1820s]

If you are wearing your best bib and tucker, you are wearing very smart, formal clothes. The conference guests all turned up on time in their best bib and tucker. Note: In the past, a `bib' was the part of an apron which covered the chest. A `tucker' was a decorative part of a woman's dress, covering her neck and shoulders.

Dressed in one’s finest clothes. A tucker was an ornamental piece of lace worn by women in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries to cover the neck and shoulders. A bib was either a fancy frill worn at the front of a man’s shirt or an actual formal shirt front. Their pairing with best dates from the mid-eighteenth century. The word bib appeared in print in America in 1795: “The old gentleman put on his best bib and band [i.e., collar]” (The Art of Courting, Newburyport, Massachusetts). A later locution, dating from the mid-nineteenth century, is one’s Sunday best, also known as Sunday-go-to-meeting clothes. It refers to an era when one’s finery was reserved for church (or “prayer meeting”). These Americanisms sound archaic today. See also gussied up.

Exhausted. “Tucker” was a 19th-century New England word for “tire” or “used up.”