Dāp'per, a.

a. [D. dapper, brave, valiant, Dan. & Sw. tapper, Ger. tapfer; O. H. Ger. taphar, heavy, weighty, taphari, weight.] Little and active; nimble; lively; neat in dress or appearance; spruce; smart.

He wondered how so many provinces could be held in subjection by such a dapper-little man. Milton.

“A vast number of Teutonic words which have a noble or august sense in the kindred language of Germany, and evidently once had such in Anglo-Saxon, have forfeited this in whole or in part. . . . Thus ‘tapfer’ is valiant, courageous, but dapper is only spruce or smart.” Trench.