adjective
- neat; trim; smart: He looked very dapper in his new suit.
- lively and brisk: to walk with a dapper step.
- small and active.
adjective
- neat and spruce in dress and bearing; trim
- small and nimble
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 (cf. Old High German tapfar “heavy,” German tapfer “brave”), from PIE root *dheb- “dense, firm, compressed.”