Definitions

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

  • adjective Neatly dressed; trim.
  • adjective Very stylish in dress.
  • adjective Lively and alert.

from The Century Dictionary.

  • Pretty; elegant; neat; trim.
  • Small and active; nimble; brisk; lively.

from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.

  • adjective Little and active; spruce; trim; smart; neat in dress or appearance; lively.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • adjective Neat, trim.
  • adjective Stylishly dressed, neatly dressed, spiffy.

from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.

  • adjective marked by up-to-dateness in dress and manners

Etymologies

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition

[Middle English daper, elegant, probably from Middle Dutch dapper, quick, strong.]

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

Middle English daper, from Middle Dutch dapper "stalwart, nimble", from Proto-Germanic *dapraz ‘heavy; bold’ (compare German tapfer "bold", Norwegian daper "saddened, dreary"), from Proto-Indo-European *dʰeb- ‘thick, heavy’ (compare Tocharian A tpär ‘high’, Latvian dàbls ‘strong’, Serbo-Croatian дебео (dèbeo) ‘fat’).

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Examples

  • Yes. sylpheed-claws in dapper is broken (IMAPS doesn't work).

    Finally decent email application Ante Karamati 2006

  • But Dapper's CUPS bugs are nothing compared to bugs in OSX (notice how dapper is still under development, and OSX had it's share of versions).

    Archive 2006-04-01 Ante Karamati 2006

  • Sylpheed-claws-gtk2 (the one in dapper) would crash.

    Finally decent email application Ante Karamati 2006

  • But Dapper's CUPS bugs are nothing compared to bugs in OSX (notice how dapper is still under development, and OSX had it's share of versions).

    CUPS and EFS Ante Karamati 2006

  • Expect new version in dapper till end of the week, when I'll upload it.

    Finally decent email application Ante Karamati 2006

  • He was the kind of delicate middle-aged man for whom the word dapper had been coined.

    Cyberbooks Bova, Ben, 1932- 1989

  • He was the kind of delicate middle-aged man for whom the word dapper had been coined.

    Cyberbooks Bova, Ben, 1932- 1989

  • He is known as the dapper fashion professor who co-hosts Project Runway with Heidi Klum, and with the phenomenal success of the show, his career has skyrocketed into the big leagues.

    Tim Gunn Talks Bullying, His FBI Agent Father & Anna Wintour The Huffington Post News Team 2010

  • He is known as the dapper fashion professor who co-hosts Project Runway with Heidi Klum, and with the phenomenal success of the show, his career has skyrocketed into the big leagues.

    Tim Gunn Threw Up In A Parking Lot Before His First Day Of Teaching The Huffington Post 2010

  • He is known as the dapper fashion professor who co-hosts Project Runway with Heidi Klum, and with the phenomenal success of the show, his career has skyrocketed into the big leagues.

    Tim Gunn Threw Up In A Parking Lot Before His First Day Of Teaching The Huffington Post 2010

Comments

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  • original meant heavy and strong then later meant quick and nimble

    July 25, 2007

  • a flapper's father

    October 8, 2010