dapper

Etymology

From Middle English daper (“pretty, neat”), from Middle Dutch dapper (“stalwart, nimble”), Old Dutch *dapar, from Proto-Germanic *dapraz (“stout; solid; 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’).

adj

1. Neat, trim.
   This entrance is through a little courtyard, in which is the stable and coach-house combined, where Madame Perinere, a lady who paints the magic word "Modes" beneath her name on the door-post of number seventeen, keeps the dapper little cart and pony which carry her bonnets to the farthest corner of Paris. 1892, Henry Seton Merriman, The Slave Of The Lamp
2. Stylishly dressed, neatly dressed, spiffy.
   Going down the street, you would meet a typical commercial traveller, dapper and alert. 1917, P. G. Wodehouse, The Man With Two Left Feet
3. Quick; little and active.