spandy
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English[edit]
Etymology[edit]
Uncertain. Perhaps a variant of spander-new,[1] or from spick-and-span,[2] both attested from the 17th century, while spandy clean appears in 1838 (see quotations below). Both spander-new and spick-and-span come from earlier span-new, which is attested from c. 1300.[1]
Adjective[edit]
spandy (colloquial, archaic)
- Neat, fine, very good.
- 1869, Louisa May Alcott, Little Women, page 126:
- My silk stockings and two pairs of spandy gloves are my comfort. You are a dear, to lend me yours, Jo
- 1894, Lizzie Tristram, Nameless Stories for Supplemental Reading and General Exercises, page 14:
- O, poor dandy, once so spandy,
Golden dancer on the lea!
Older growing, white hair flowing,
Bald head dandy now is he.
Adverb[edit]
spandy (colloquial, archaic)
- (often with clean) Entirely, nicely, very.
- 1838, Timo. Titterwell [Samuel Kettel], “Thoughts on seeing ghosts”, in Yankee Notions, page 115:
- I have heard of a ghost that always came in a new coat, smartly buttoned up, and a spandy clean dickey.
- 1891, Sophie May, Little Prudy, page 111:
- O, I forgot, the woman was wicked and she made her little girls sit in the parlor, all dressed up spandy clean, and she made Cindrilla sit in the coal-hod.
- 1921 January 1, Annie Hamilton Donnell, “The Tilley Celebration”, in The Sunday School Times, page 4:
- “It means always celebrating New Year with new things – every single Tilley person.”
“Spandy new,” offered Jeffery, helpfully. “The newest ever.”
References[edit]
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 “spandy, adj.”, in OED Online
, Oxford, Oxfordshire: Oxford University Press, launched 2000.
- ^ Douglas Harper (2001–2024) “spick-and-span”, in Online Etymology Dictionary.: “From the expression, span- came to be taken vulgarly in 19c. New England as an adverb meaning "wholly, entirely," hence span-clean (compare Louisa May Alcott's spandy clean faces and hands).”
