spiffy, a. colloq. and dial.
(ˈspɪfɪ)
[Of obscure origin; the shorter form spiff is recorded in dialect use from 1862; also spiff ‘a well-dressed man, a swell’ (Slang Dict. 1874).]
Smart, spruce.
| 1853 D. G. Rossetti Let. 2 Nov. (1965) I. 161 The frame for my water-colour has just come in and is spiffy cheesy jammy nobby [etc.]. 1860 Slang Dict. 223 Spiffy, spruce, well-dressed. 1881– in dial. glossaries (Leicester, Warwick, Cornwall). 1896 Mrs. E. Lynn Linton in Chambers's Jrnl. 25 Jan. 50, I, in my older clothes, and by no means ‘spiffy’ in my get up. 1958 T. M. Stanwell-Fletcher Clear Lands 24 This was with the comparatively new, very spiffy Canadian government's C. D. Howe. 1978 H. Wouk War & Remembrance viii. 86 She's turned into quite the spiffy New York gal. |
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Add: Hence ˈspiffily adv.; ˈspiffiness n.
| 1977 Washington Post 26 Apr. b5/4 They were a very spiffily dressed bunch. 1981 N.Y. Times 30 Oct. c34/4 Mr. Marash is the bearded correspondent who seldom wears a tie, thereby offering an alternative to the sartorial spiffiness of Jim Jensen and Roland Smith. 1985 R. Whelan Robert Capa ii. 29 He is spiffily dressed in a suit jacket, tie, and sweater: a radical in bourgeois clothing. |