Intended to finish early, being tight (4)
I believe the answer is:
mean
'tight' is the definition.
(I know that tight can be written as mean)
'intended to finish early' is the wordplay.
'intended' becomes 'meant' (to mean something is to intend it).
'to finish early' means to remove the last letter (I've seen 'finishing early' mean this).
'meant' with its last letter taken away is 'MEAN'.
'being' acts as a link.
(Other definitions for mean that I've seen before include "Petty" , "Name for being stingy" , "Common" , "Intend; stingy" , "very good" .)