| 释义 |
dapper, a.|ˈdæpə(r)|
Also 5 dapyr, 6 daper; 6 erron. dappard, -art.
[Not found in OE. or ME. App. adopted in the end of the ME. period from Flemish or other LG. dialect (with modification of sense, perh. ironical or humorous): cf. MDu. dapper powerful, strong, stout, energetic, in mod.Du., valiant, brave, bold, MLG. dapper heavy, weighty, steady, stout, persevering, undaunted, OHG. tapfar, MHG. tapfer heavy, weighty, firm, in late MHG. and mod.G., warlike, brave. The sense of ON. dapr ‘sad, downcast’ appears to be developed from that of ‘heavy’. Possibly cognate with OSlav. dobrŭ good.]
1. Of persons: Neat, trim, smart, spruce in dress or appearance. (Formerly appreciative; now more or less depreciative, with associations of littleness or pettiness; cf. b.)
c1440Promp. Parv. 113 Dapyr, or praty, elegans. a1529Skelton Image Hypocr. 95 As dapper as any crowe And perte as any pie. 1530Palsgr. 309/1 Daper, proper, mignon, godin. 1594Nashe Unfort. Trav. 1 The dapper Mounsier Pages of the Court. 1648Herrick Hesper., The Temple, Their many mumbling masse-priests here, And many a dapper chorister. 1673R. Leigh Transproser Reh. 9 As if the dapper Stripling were to be heir to all the Fathers features. 1749Fielding Tom Jones i. xi, The idle and childish liking of a girl to a boy..is often fixed on..flowing locks, downy chins, dapper shapes. 1828Scott F.M. Perth viii, The spruce and dapper importance of his ordinary appearance. 1861Sat. Rev. Dec. 605 Our dapper curates, who only open their mouths to say ‘L'Eglise, c'est moi!’ 1885M. E. Braddon Wyllard's Weird I. 89 A good-looking man..well set up, neat without being dapper or priggish.
b. esp. Applied to a little person who is trim or smart in his ways and movements: ‘little and active, lively without bulk’ (J).
1606Wily Beguiled in Hazl. Dodsley IX. 229 Pretty Peg..'Tis the dapp'rest wench that ever danced after a tabor and pipe. 1634Milton Comus 118 Trip the pert fairies and the dapper elves. 1792Wolcott (P. Pindar) Ode to Ld. Lonsdale, Much like great Doctor Johnson..With dapper Jemmy Boswell on his back. 1823Scott Peveril xxxv, The clean, tight, dapper little fellow, hath proved an overmatch for his bulky antagonist. 1840Hood Up the Rhine 66 A smart, dapper, brisk, well-favoured little fellow. 1870Emerson Soc. & Solit., Civilization Wks. (Bohn) III. 12 We are dapper little busybodies, and run this way and that way superserviceably.
2. transf. Of animals and things.
1579Spenser Sheph. Cal. Oct. 13, The dapper ditties, that I wont devise, To feede youthes fansie. [Gloss., Dapper, pretye.] 1589Tri. Love & Fort. iv. in Hazl. Dodsley VI. 198 There was a little dappard ass with her. 1592Greene Upst. Courtier in Harl. Misc. (Malh.) II. 218 A little daper flowre like a ground hunnisuckle. 1672Wood Life (1772) 48 Mounting my dapper nagg, Pegasus. 1704Moderat. Displ. vi. 23 A Dapper Animal, whose Pigmy Size Provokes the Ladies Scorn, and mocks their Eyes. 1802G. Colman Br. Grins, London Rurality i, Would-be villas, ranged in dapper pride. 1870Emerson Soc. & Solit., Work & Days Wks. (Bohn) III. 65 What of this dapper caoutchouc and gutta-percha, which makes water-pipes and stomach-pumps?
†3. as n. A dapper fellow. Obs.
1709Tatler No. 85 ⁋1 A distant Imitation of a forward Fop, and a Resolution to over-top him in his Way, are the distinguishing Marks of a Dapper. Ibid. No. 96 ⁋4. 1747 W. Horsley Fool No. 68 The well-dressed Beaus, the Dappers, the Smarts.
4. Comb., as dapper-looking.
1874Burnand My Time iii. 28 [The] dapper-looking, though common chairs. |