Word.ws English Dictionary

dandy

/ˈdæn.di/

dandy noun: a man very concerned about his physical appearance, refined language, and leisurely hobbies, pursued with the appearance of nonchalance in a cult of self.

dandy: a man very concerned about his physical appearance, refined language, and leisurely hobbies,...
Image: James E. Petts, CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons

Noun (1)

dandy (plural dandies)

  1. A man very concerned about his physical appearance, refined language, and leisurely hobbies, pursued with the appearance of nonchalance in a cult of self.
    • The gallant young Indian dandy at home on furlough — immense dandies these — chained and moustached — driving in tearing cabs, the pillars of the theatres, living at West End Hotels, — […]1847 January – 1848 July, William Makepeace Thackeray, chapter 60, in Vanity Fair […], London: Bradbury and Evans […], published 1848, →OCLC
    • No town-bred dandy will compare with a country-bred one—I mean a downright bumpkin dandy–a fellow that, in the dog-days, will mow his two acres in buckskin gloves for fear of tanning his hands.1851 November 14, Herman Melville, chapter VI, in Moby-Dick; or, The Whale, 1st American edition, New York, N.Y.: Harper & Brothers; London: Richard Bentley, →OCLC, page 68
  2. Something excellent in its class.
  3. (UK) A yawl, or a small after-sail on a yawl.
  4. A dandy roller.
  5. (Ireland, UK, archaic, slang) A small glass of whisky.
    • Somebody quite as notorious as Brummell, but whose follies have been far more mischievous; whose eloquence is great, but certainly not always refined; and to whose health many a dandy of whisky has been tossed off.1844, William Jesse, The life of George Brummell, page 57
  6. (historical) A horse-drawn railway carriage used on some branch lines.
    • Other notable instances of horse-drawn vehicles for passenger services were the dandies used on the two-mile branch to Inchture of the Perth-Dundee line of the Caledonian Railway […], and the 2½-mile branch of the North British Railway from Drumburgh to Port Carlisle. […] One of the Port Carlisle...1958 February, “Notes and News: The Fintona Tram”, in Railway Magazine, pages 139-140

Adjective

dandy (comparative dandier, superlative dandiest)

  1. Like a dandy, foppish.
  2. Very good; better than expected but not as good as could be.
    • That's all fine and dandy, but how much does it cost?
  3. Excellent; first-rate.
    • What a dandy little laptop you have.
    • Grip Sures are dandy shoes for anything that comes along. Hiking, climbing, canoeing, around camp or in the gym — you can't have anything better.1924, Boys' Life, page 27

Noun (2)

dandy (plural dandies)

  1. (India) A boatman, a rower.
    • Our Dandees (or boatmen) boyled their rice.1685 January 6, William Hedges, Diary, Vol. I, p. 175
  2. (India) A Shaiva mendicant who carries a small rod.
    • ...the Dandis, distinguished by carrying a small dand or wand...1862, Henry Beveridge, A Comprehensive History of India..., volume II, page 74
  3. (India) An open sedan chair formed by suspending a rudimentary frame or strong cloth from a pole or set of poles.
    • 1870, Constance Frederica Gordon-Cumming, Good Words, p. 135:
    • As the darkness closed in... I had to give up the attempt to use the dandy, and struggle on on foot.
    Synonyms:
    andor, jampan

Proper noun capitalized: Dandy

Dandy (plural Dandys)

  1. A surname.
  2. (abbreviation, clipping, informal, singular, Victoria) Clipping of Dandenong.
  3. (in plural, informal, Victoria) The Dandenong Ranges.

dandy meaning in Hindi, Tamil, Bengali and Telugu

dandy in Hindi

man very concerned about his clothes and his appearance
छैल chail, छैला chailā, बाँका bā̃kā, रंगीला raṅgīlā
Translations
डंडी ḍaṇḍī

dandy in Tamil

டேண்டி, டாண்டி

dandy in Bengali

ড্যান্ডি, ড্যাণ্ডি

dandy in Telugu

డాండీ
More languagesFewer languages
dandy in Malayalam
ഡാൻഡി
dandy in Kannada
ಡ್ಯಾಂಡಿ
dandy in Punjabi
ਡੈਂਡੀ
dandy in Gujarati
ડેન્ડી
dandy in Odia
ଡେଣ୍ଡି
dandy in Nepali
ड्यान्डी, डेन्डी

Examples of dandy in a sentence

  • “Gerald Croft is an attractive chap about thirty, rather too manly to be a dandy but very much the easy well-bred young man-about-town.”1945, J. B. Priestley, chapter I, in An Inspector Calls:
  • Its gonna be just dandy / The day I take my Candy / And make him mine all mine1945, Mack David, Alex C Kramer, Joan Whitney, “Candy”, performed by Nat King Cole:
  • A perfectly dandy cartoon feature, “The Jungle Book,” scooted into local theaters yesterday just ahead of the big day, and it's ideal for the children.1967 December 23, “Disney ‘Jungle Book’ Arrives Just in Time”, in The New York Times, →ISSN:
  • Major Battye and Captain Urmston joined the rear and placed the wounded man in a dandy.1888 July 2, Times, page 5:

All 35 example sentences with dandy

Synonyms of dandy

30 more synonymsFewer synonyms

Antonyms

All synonyms and antonyms of dandy

Forms of dandy

Noun
pluraldandies
alternative formdandi
alternative formdandie
alternative formdandee
Adjective
comparativedandier
superlativedandiest
Proper noun
pluralDandys

Plural of dandy: dandies

Origin of dandy

Borrowed from Scots dandy (“a fop; one who is well-dressed”). Of uncertain origin. Possibly from Dandy, a diminutive of Andrew, yet the Scots word is used also in reference to women. Alternatively, possibly a back-formation of Scots dandilly, dandillie (“one who is spoiled or pampered; a "pet"”). Compare English dandle and dander.

From Hindi डंडी (ḍaṇḍī, “rod, pole”), from Sauraseni Prakrit 𑀟𑀁𑀟𑀺𑀕𑀸 (ḍaṃḍigā), from Sanskrit दण्डिका (daṇḍikā), from दण्ड (daṇḍa) + -इका (-ikā).

Words formed from dandy

Phrases with dandy

Words that rhyme with dandy

5 more rhymesFewer rhymes

Questions about dandy

What does dandy mean?
Dandy means a man very concerned about his physical appearance, refined language, and leisurely hobbies, pursued with the appearance of nonchalance in a cult of self.
What is dandy in Hindi?
Dandy in Hindi is छैल (chail), छैला (chailā), बाँका (bā̃kā). See Dandy meaning in Hindi.
How do you use dandy in a sentence?
“Gerald Croft is an attractive chap about thirty, rather too manly to be a dandy but very much the easy well-bred young man-about-town.”
What part of speech is dandy?
Dandy can be a noun, an adjective or a proper noun.
How do you pronounce dandy?
Dandy is pronounced /ˈdæn.di/.
What is the plural of dandy?
The plural of dandy is dandies.

Words near dandy in the dictionary

  1. dandruffy
  2. Dandry
  3. dands
  4. Dandurand
  5. Dandurands
  6. dandy
  7. dandy as candy
  8. dandy brush
  9. dandy brushes
  10. dandy cart
  11. dandy carts

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: dandy (page history and authors); Dandy (page history and authors); dandy (Tamil, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); dandy (Bengali, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); dandy (Telugu, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); dandy (Malayalam, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); dandy (Kannada, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); dandy (Punjabi, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); dandy (Gujarati, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); dandy (Odia, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); dandy (Nepali, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

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Cite this entry: “dandy.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/dandy. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.