dapper: [15] Modern English dapper connotes neatness, alertness, and liveliness, but its etymological significance as revealed by distant relatives such as Old High German tapfar ‘heavy’, Old Prussian debīkan ‘large’, and Old Slavic debelu ‘thick’, is ‘heavy’. The notion of ‘weightiness’ spread to ‘firmness, endurance in battle’, and hence ‘courage’ (German tapfer and Dutch dapper both mean ‘brave’). English acquired the word, with an apparently ironical change of meaning, from Middle Dutch or Middle Low German dapper ‘heavy, stout, bold’.
dapper (adj.)
mid-15c., "elegant," from Middle Dutch or Middle Low German dapper "bold, strong, sturdy," later "quick, nimble," from Proto-Germanic *dapraz, perhaps with ironical shift of meaning (cognates: Old High German tapfar "heavy," German tapfer "brave"), from PIE root *dheb- "dense, firm, compressed."
1. He is a dapper little salesman in a business suit.
他是一个穿西装的矮小精悍的推销员.
来自《简明英汉词典》
2. He was a dapper little Irishman, very vain, homely as a monkey.
他是个短小精干的爱尔兰人, 非常自负, 丑得象只猴子.
来自辞典例句
3. His manner was aristocratic , his movements dapper and suave.
他气宇轩昂, 温文尔雅,举止潇洒.
来自辞典例句
4. The once dapper , cheerful agent had become seedy looking and bitter.
昔日风度翩翩、容光焕发的经纪人,今天变成了衣衫褛褴, 蓬头垢面的人.
来自辞典例句
5. His dapper self - confidence seemed impenetrable to such hints.
dapper: [15] Modern English dapper connotes neatness, alertness, and liveliness, but its etymological significance as revealed by distant relatives such as Old High German tapfar ‘heavy’, Old Prussian debīkan ‘large’, and Old Slavic debelu ‘thick’, is ‘heavy’. The notion of ‘weightiness’ spread to ‘firmness, endurance in battle’, and hence ‘courage’ (German tapfer and Dutch dapper both mean ‘brave’). English acquired the word, with an apparently ironical change of meaning, from Middle Dutch or Middle Low German dapper ‘heavy, stout, bold’.
dapper (adj.)
mid-15c., "elegant," from Middle Dutch or Middle Low German dapper "bold, strong, sturdy," later "quick, nimble," from Proto-Germanic *dapraz, perhaps with ironical shift of meaning (cognates: Old High German tapfar "heavy," German tapfer "brave"), from PIE root *dheb- "dense, firm, compressed."
双语例句
1. He is a dapper little salesman in a business suit.
他是一个穿西装的矮小精悍的推销员.
来自《简明英汉词典》
2. He was a dapper little Irishman, very vain, homely as a monkey.
他是个短小精干的爱尔兰人, 非常自负, 丑得象只猴子.
来自辞典例句
3. His manner was aristocratic , his movements dapper and suave.
他气宇轩昂, 温文尔雅,举止潇洒.
来自辞典例句
4. The once dapper , cheerful agent had become seedy looking and bitter.
昔日风度翩翩、容光焕发的经纪人,今天变成了衣衫褛褴, 蓬头垢面的人.
来自辞典例句
5. His dapper self - confidence seemed impenetrable to such hints.