close-fisted

The close-fisted aristocrat felt himself fairly driven into a corner.

From The Child Wife by Mayne Reid

Oh yes, love, he is close-fisted, is Barjona, and it is said that his wife was so tired of his nagging ways that she was quite pleased to go.

From Windyridge by W. Riley

He is accus'd of being close-fisted, and of dissuading the Elector from giving Gratuities; but 'tis agreed that he is very charitable to the Poor.

From The Memoirs of Charles-Lewis, Baron de Pollnitz, Volume I Being the Observations He Made in His Late Travels from Prussia thro' Germany, Italy, France, Flanders, Holland, England, &C. in Letters to His Friend. Discovering Not Only the Present State of the Chief Cities and Towns; but the Characters of the Principal Persons at the Several Courts. by Karl Ludwig von P?llnitz

By the way hither I had put to proof their liberality; and, finding that they were a couple of your close-fisted gentry, I immediately determined to have amends of them.

From Wilhelm Meister's Apprenticeship and Travels, Vol. I (of 2) by Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

Those lacking money to appear with fitting magnificence had little aid to expect from royalty; the shower of gold did not begin to fall until later, and Louis XIV. even passed for being close-fisted.

From Louis XIV and La Grande Mademoiselle 1652-1693 by Arvede Barine