classyadj.

1870 H. J. Byron Let. May in Cyril's Success (1871) p. i Although it is to a certain extent ‘classy’, I can assure those critics who think London and provincial audiences care only for coarse sensation and extravagance, that having been played a hundred nights in London it ‘went’..with very remarkable effect.

1891 S. J. Duncan Amer. Girl in London 228 Why didn't one of you go? Not classy enough, eh?

1892 Temple Bar Nov. 393 Her successor is the ‘smart’ young married woman,..who is chic and ‘classy’.

1899 E. Phillpotts Human Boy 174 He said a man who sold pills and toothbrushes..could not be considered a classy chemist.

1903 ‘Marjoribanks’ Fluff-hunters 94 Was she classy, well-turned out, and all that sort of thing?

1934 L. Charteris Boodle xiii. 281 I want a diamond, a real classy bit of ice, and all I can afford is a hundred pounds.

1947 Sporting Mirror 7 Nov. 8/2 The second of these came from newcomer Baily, who played a classy game throughout.

1983 P. Fussell Class vii. 164 One can hear even fairly classy people in the theater speaking not of one-acts but of one-acters.

2007 Reveal 17 Mar. 79/2 This classy movie was the US sleeper hit of the year.

1908 Cedar Rapids (Iowa) Evening Gaz. 21 Oct. 5/5 (advt.) Desirably extreme or classily moderate.

2000 D. Adebayo My Once upon Time (2001) ii. 12 For I would now have the opportunity to head out west, where I was sure this business could be swiftly, classily, sorted.