释义 |
▪ I. dandy, n.1 (and a.)|ˈdændɪ| [Origin unknown. In use on the Scottish Border in the end of the 18th c.; and about 1813–1819 in vogue in London, for the ‘exquisite’ or ‘swell’ of the period. Perhaps the full form was Jack-a-dandy, which occurs from 1659, and in 18th c. had a sense which might pass into that of ‘dandy’. Connexion with dandiprat or with F. dandin has been guessed, but without any apparent ground. It is worthy of notice also that Dandy = Andrew in Sc. See Rev. C. B. Mount in N. & Q. 8th Ser. IV. 81.] A. n. I. 1. a. One who studies above everything to dress elegantly and fashionably; a beau, fop, ‘exquisite’.
c1780Sc. Song (see N. & Q. 8th Ser. IV. 81), I've heard my granny crack O' sixty twa years back When there were sic a stock of Dandies O; Oh they gaed to Kirk and Fair, Wi' their ribbons round their hair, And their stumpie drugget coats, quite the Dandy O. 1788R. Galloway Poems (Jam.), They..laugh at ilka dandy at that fair day. 1818Moore Fudge Fam. Paris i. 48 They've made him a Dandy, A thing, you know, whiskered, great-coated, and laced, Like an hour⁓glass, exceedingly small in the waist. 1819Anderson Cumbrld. Ball. (1823) 148, I..went owre to see Carel Fair; I'd heard monie teales o' thur dandies—Odswinge! how they mek the fwok stare! 1831Carlyle Sart. Res. iii. x, A Dandy is a Clothes-wearing Man, a Man whose trade, office, and existence consists in the wearing of Clothes. 1874G. W. Dasent Half a Life II. 65 Like the cabriolets which some dandies still drive. b. Said of animals and things.
1835Sir G. Stephen Adv. Search Horse ii. 18, I mounted many a slug and many another dandy before I again ventured to buy. 1885J. Runciman Skippers & Sh. 54 The barque looked a real dandy. 2. slang or colloq. Anything superlatively fine, neat, or dainty; esp. in phr. the dandy (now usu. a dandy), ‘the correct thing’, ‘the ticket’.
1784G. Colman Song in Two to One, Her breath is like the rose, and the pretty little mouth Of pretty little Tippet is the Dandy O! 1814Apollo (in N. & Q. 6th Ser. IX. 136), For marriage to old maids is the dandy, O. 1822Pennsylv. Intelligencer 3 Dec. (Th.), The reader will suppose this was a dandy of a thing, since it was on writing paper. 1832W. Stephenson Gateshead Local Poems 105 A cure for coughs I know, It will prove the dandy. 1837–40Haliburton Clockm. (1862) 340 The new railroad will be jist the dandy for you. 1887Amer. Angler XII. 360, I had the largest, the dandy, and was satisfied. 1887Harper's Mag. June 160/1 ‘Death loves a shining mark’, and she hit a dandy when she turned loose on Jim. 1897S. Hale Lett. (1919) 319 Mrs. B. was a dandy, she didn't fuss nor worry. 1919H. L. Wilson Ma Pettengill iv. 111 It was just one punch, though a dandy. 1968D. Helwig in R. Weaver Canad. Short Stories 2nd Ser. 376 We..sat..waiting for Barrow Man to light his fire. At nine-fifteen he did it. It was a dandy. II. Technical and other senses; app. transferred applications of prec. to things considered neat, trim, or ‘tidy’ in form or action. 3. Naut. ‘A sloop or cutter with a jigger-mast abaft, on which a mizen-lug-sail is set’ (Smyth, Sailor's Word-bk.). Hence dandy-rig, dandy-rigged adjs.
1858Merc. Marine Mag. V. 134 Dandy 3, Flats 4. 1880Daily News 12 Nov. 3/7 Busy Bee, fishing dandy, of Lowestoft, struck on a wreck and foundered. 1886Times 2 Jan. 3 The lifeboats..dandy Snowdrop, of Ramsgate..dandy Lady's Page, of Scarborough..dandy Seabird, of Yarmouth, saved vessel and six.
1858Simmonds Dict. Trade, Dandy-rigged-cutter. 1883Fisheries Exhib. Catal. (ed. 4) 132 An elliptical stern Dandy-rig Fishing-boat. 1891Daily News 15 Dec. 5/6 His smack..dandy-rigged, and of only thirty-seven tons, was again overtaken by a storm. 4. Naut. A piece of mechanism, resembling a small capstan, used for hoisting the trawl. Hence dandy-span, the handle-bar by which a dandy is worked.
1883Fisheries Exhib. Catal. 10 Bridles, Dandies..Hauling Lines, and Running Gear. Ibid. 12 Manilla Bridles..Dandy Span. 5. dial. A bantam fowl. (dandy-cock, dandy-hen.)
1828Craven Dialect, Dandy-cock, a bantam cock, a diminutive species of poultry. 1884Cheshire Gloss., Dandy, a bantam. The sexes are specified as dandy-cock and dandy-hen. 1887S. Cheshire Gloss. 167 ‘Hey struts abowt like a dandy-cock.’ 6. Irish. A small jug; a small glass (of whisky).
1838Blackw. Mag. May (Farmer), ‘Father Tom and the Pope’. Dimidium cyathi vero apud Metropolitanos Hibernicos dicitur dandy. 1859All Year Round No. 12. 285 Take a dandy—there's no headache in Irish whisky. 7. In various other technical applications; e.g. a handy accessory to various machines or structures; a running-out fire for melting pig-iron in tin-plate manufacture; a small false grate fitted for purposes of economy into an ordinary grate or fireplace; a light iron hand-cart used to carry coke to a blast furnace; also short for dandy-cart, -roller.
1850F. Trollope Petticoat Govt. 13 She blew a small dandy-ful of shavings and cinders into warmth, for the purpose of causing the water in her diminutive kettle to boil. 1851Rep. Juries of Exhibition 428 A channelled and perforated roller technically called a ‘dandy’, to remove part of the water from the pulp. 1875Ure Dict. Arts III. 490 The two rollers following the dandy..are termed couching-rollers. 1884W. H. Greenwood Steel & Iron 276 Price's puddling furnace..consists of a bed or hearth at one end of which is a chamber or dandy in which the pig-iron is first placed for preliminary heating. 1892[see dandy-cart]. Hence (nonce-wds.) ˈdandyhood, the state or style of a dandy. ˈdandyic a., dandyish. ˈdandyize v. intr. to play the dandy. ˈdandy-jack v., to play the jack-a-dandy. ˈdandy-land [cf. fairyland], the (imaginary) land of dandies. ˈdandyling, a diminutive or petty dandy.
1823New Monthly Mag. VII. 229 Prank'd out in dandihood withal To the top pitch of fashion's folly. 1832Fraser's Mag. V. 171 Done..not with philosophic, permanent colours, but with mere dandyic ochre and japan. 1830Ibid. II. 200 We have dandyised in our time with the..turbaned exquisites of..Stamboul. 1831Carlyle Sart. Res. iii. x, Those Dandiacal Manicheans, with the host of Dandyising Christians, will form one body. 1887Fenn Master of Cerem. xi, ‘My, he do go dandy-jacking along the cliff.’ 1831Moore Summer Fête 498 Two Exquisites, a he and she, Just brought from Dandyland, and meant For Fashion's grand Menagerie. 1846Worcester, Dandyling, a little dandy; a ridiculous fop. Qu. Rev. B. attrib. and adj. 1. Of, belonging to, or characteristic of a dandy or dandies; of the nature of a dandy; affectedly neat, trim, or smart.
1813Byron Let. to Moore 25 July, The season has closed with a Dandy Ball. 1821― Juan v. cxliii, Even a Dandy's dandiest chatter. 1824Miss Mitford Village Ser. i. (1863) 172 The stiff cravat, the pinched-in waist, the dandy-walk. 1848Thackeray Van. Fair lx, A dandy little hand in a kid-glove. 1887Jessopp Arcady 194 They..had the dandy youths taught how to ride. 2. a. Fine, splendid, first-rate. colloq. (orig. U.S.). Freq. in phr. fine and dandy.
1794Massachusetts Spy 27 Aug. (Th.), My uncle Cuthbert blew out a prodigious puff of my dandy tobacco. 1842W. Bagley Let. 22 June in N. E. Eliason Tarheel Talk (1956) iv. 128, I now have a real dandy suit of clothes & I step about New York just as if I was some great one. 1894P. L. Ford Hon. Peter Stirling (1898) 163 ‘If I was as big as him,’ said one, ‘I'd fire all the peelers.’ ‘Wouldn't that be dandy?’ cried another. 1908C. E. Mulford Orphan vi. 73, I got yore smokin', Orphant!.. Here she is, right side up and fine and dandy! 1910S. E. White Rules of Game i. i, ‘How's Mrs. Orde..?’ he inquired. ‘Mrs. Orde is fine and dandy.’ 1926‘R. Crompton’ William—the Conqueror v. 83 Oh, how dandy! 1940War Illustr. 5 Jan. 571/1 The troops had told the Dominions Secretary that the crossing had been ‘dandy’, and the General told us the same thing. 1940O. Nash Face is Familiar 259 Candy is dandy But liquor is quicker. 1964Wodehouse Frozen Assets ii. 31 I'm fine and dandy now, but before I saw you I was feeling extremely blue. b. As adv. Finely, splendidly. U.S. colloq.
1908S. E. White Riverman xli. 323 ‘She's holding strong and dandy,’ said Orde.., examining critically the clumps of piles. 1952in Wentworth & Flexner Dict. Amer. Slang (1960) 140/1 She and her husband get along just dandy. 1963O. Nash Everyone but Thee & Me 110 And, should Furnace or freezer act less than dandy, There's always a quaint old handy-man handy. Hence ˈdandily adv., ˈdandiness.
1834Fraser's Mag. IX. 147 We were not so dandily dressed. 1825Southey Lett. (1856) III. 473 The first two numbers..displeased me as much by their dandiness as ―'s does by its blackguardism. ▪ II. dandy, n.2 Also dandy-fever. [See dengue.] The popular name in the West Indies of dengue fever, on its first appearance there in 1827.
1828Stedman in Edin. Med. Jrnl. XXX. 227 As it was unknown to the faculty, the vulgar, as commonly happens, gave it names of their own; and ridiculous as they may sound, they soon became the only appellations of the new malady. The English negroes in St. Thomas called it the Dandy Fever, while the French vulgar called it the Bouquet, which again was corrupted into the Bucket. ― ibid. 239 The contagion was supposed to be brought by a vessel from the coast of Africa which touched at St. Thomas. 1830Furlonge Ibid. XXXIII. 51 (title) A few remarks on the Dandy which prevailed in the West Indies towards the close of 1827 and beginning of 1828. 1869E. A. Parkes Pract. Hygiene (ed. 3) 573 ‘Dandy fever’, or break-bone (Dengue), has prevailed several times. 1880Fagge & Pye Smith Textbk. Med., The negroes called the new disease ‘Dandy-fever’, apparently in ridicule of the attitude and gait of the patient. ▪ III. ‖ dandy, dandi, n.3 Anglo-Ind.|ˈdændɪ| Also dandee. [Hindī ḍānḍī, deriv. of ḍānḍ, ḍanḍ staff, oar (Yule).] 1. A boatman of the Ganges.
1685Hedges Diary 6 Jan. (Y.), Our Dandees (or Boatmen) boyled their rice. 1763W. Hastings in Long Select. Rec. (1869) 347 (Y.) They..plundered and seized the Dandies and Mangies' vessel. c1813Mrs. Sherwood Ayah & Lady ix. 51 To make sport for the dandies, and other people in the boat. 1867Smyth Sailor's Word-bk., Dandies, rowers of the budgerow boats on the Ganges. 2. (Dandi.) A S'aiva mendicant who carries a small wand (F. Hall).
1832H. H. Wilson in Asiatic Res. XVII. 173 The Dań'dí is distinguished by carrying a small dań'd, or wand, with several processes or projections. 1862Beveridge Hist. India II. iv. ii. 74 The Dandis, distinguished by carrying a small dand or wand. 3. ‘A kind of vehicle used in the Himalaya, consisting of a strong cloth slung like a hammock to a bamboo staff, and carried by two (or more) men [dandy-wallahs]’ (Yule).
1870C. F. Gordon Cumming in Gd. Words 135/1 As the darkness closed in, my dandy-wallahs stumbled, so that I had to give up the attempt to use the dandy, and struggle on on foot. 1888Times 2 July 5/2 Major Battye and Captain Urmston joined the rear and placed the wounded man in a dandy. |