Adjacent Words

Dandy definitions

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Webster's 1828 Dictionary

DAN'DY, n. In modern usage, a male of the human species, who dresses himself like a doll and who carries his character on his back.

WordNet (r) 3.0 (2005)

adj
1: very good; "he did a bully job"; "a neat sports car"; "had a great time at the party"; "you look simply smashing" [syn: bang-up, bully, corking, cracking, dandy, great, groovy, keen, neat, nifty, not bad, peachy, slap-up, swell, smashing] n
1: a man who is much concerned with his dress and appearance [syn: dandy, dude, fop, gallant, sheik, beau, swell, fashion plate, clotheshorse]
2: a sailing vessel with two masts; a small mizzen is aft of the rudderpost [syn: yawl, dandy]

Merriam Webster's

I. noun (plural dandies) Etymology: probably short for jack-a-dandy, from ¹jack + a (of) + dandy (origin unknown) Date: circa 1780 1. a man who gives exaggerated attention to personal appearance 2. something excellent in its class • dandyish adjective • dandyishly adverb II. adjective (dandier; -est) Date: 1792 1. of, relating to, or suggestive of a dandy ; foppish 2. very good ; first-rate <a dandy place to stay>

Oxford Reference Dictionary

n. & adj. --n. (pl. -ies) 1 a man unduly devoted to style, smartness, and fashion in dress and appearance. 2 colloq. an excellent thing. --adj. (dandier, dandiest) esp. US colloq. very good of its kind; splendid, first-rate. Phrases and idioms: dandy-brush a brush for grooming a horse. dandy roll (or roller) a device for solidifying, and impressing a watermark in, paper during manufacture. Derivatives: dandyish adj. dandyism n. Etymology: 18th c.: perh. orig. = Andrew, in Jack-a-dandy

Webster's 1913 Dictionary

Dandy Dan"dy, n.; pl. Dandies. [Cf. F. dandin, ninny, silly fellow, dandiner to waddle, to play the fool; prob. allied to E. dandle. Senses 2&3 are of uncertain etymol.] 1. One who affects special finery or gives undue attention to dress; a fop; a coxcomb. 2. (Naut.) (a) A sloop or cutter with a jigger on which a lugsail is set. (b) A small sail carried at or near the stern of small boats; -- called also jigger, and mizzen. 3. A dandy roller. See below. Dandy brush, a yard whalebone brush. Dandy fever. See Dengue. Dandy line, a kind of fishing line to which are attached several crosspieces of whalebone which carry a hook at each end. Dandy roller, a roller sieve used in machines for making paper, to press out water from the pulp, and set the paper.

Collin's Cobuild Dictionary

(dandies) 1. A dandy is a man who thinks a great deal about his appearance and always dresses in smart clothes. N-COUNT 2. If you say that something is dandy, you mean it is good or just right. (AM INFORMAL, OLD-FASHIONED) = great ADJ

Soule's Dictionary of English Synonyms

n. 1. Beau, fox, coxcomb, exquisite, popinjay, macaroni, jackanapes, jack-a-dandy, man of dress, man milliner, vain fellow, cicisbeo. 2. Sloop-rigged vessel. 3. Boatman, waterman (on the Ganges). 4. Dandy-roller (in paper-machine).

1811 Dictionary of the Vulgar Tongue

That's the dandy; i.e. the ton, the clever thing; an expression of similar import to "That's the barber." See BARBER.

Moby Thesaurus

Beau Brummel, OK, ace, ace-high, arbiter of fashion, bad, bang-up, beau, beaut, blade, blood, bonzer, boss, boulevardier, buck, bully, but good, capital, clotheshorse, clubman, clubwoman, conceited, cool, corker, corking, coxcomb, coxcombical, crackerjack, daisy, dandified, darb, deb, debutante, delicious, dilly, dream, ducky, dude, exquisite, fab, famous, fashion plate, fashionable, fine, fine and dandy, fine gentleman, first-class, first-rate, first-string, fop, foppish, fribble, gallant, gear, glorious, grand, great, groovy, heavy, honey, hot, humdinger, hunky-dory, jack-a-dandy, jackanapes, jam-up, just dandy, keen, killer-diller, knockout, lady-killer, lollapaloosa, lounge lizard, lulu, macaroni, man-about-town, marvy, masher, mean, mondain, mondaine, neat, nifty, nobby, okay, out of sight, peach, peachy, peachy-keen, pip, pippin, popinjay, prime, puppy, rake, ripping, rum, scrumptious, slap-up, smashing, socialite, solid, something else, spark, spectacular, spiffing, spiffy, splendid, sport, stunning, subdeb, subdebutante, superior, sweetheart, swell, swinger, taste-maker, terrific, the nuts, tone-setter, tough, trend-setter, whiz, wizard