First recorded in 1835–45
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
They loved the grooming, but sometimes they were a little shy of the dandy brush when we came close to tender spots.
From "Beyond the Bright Sea" by Lauren Wolk
Inside the barn, we shed our ponchos and, armed with a curry comb and a dandy brush, each took a horse, Cinders for me, a roan named Clover, in the next stall, for Miss Maggie.
From "Beyond the Bright Sea" by Lauren Wolk
Nothing but the sound of the horses shifting as we worked, Miss Maggie sneezing at the dust stirred up by the dandy brush.
From "Beyond the Bright Sea" by Lauren Wolk
Link, following the example of those around him, took from his pocket the molting dandy brush and set to work once more on Chum's coat.
From His Dog by Terhune, Albert Payson
A series of discomfiting baths and repeated currying with the dandy brush had made Chum's grand coat stand out in shimmering fluffiness.
From His Dog by Terhune, Albert Payson
A stable dandy-brush is best for short-coated dogs, and a hard hair-brush, or one of those with metal bristles, which can be bought in most saddlers' shops, for long-coated ones.
From What Shall We Do Now?: Five Hundred Games and Pastimes by Fisher, Dorothy Canfield
Poor Bates sighed over his task, and brushed away more than one silent tear with the back of the dandy-brush.
From Vixen, Volume II. by Braddon, M. E. (Mary Elizabeth)
"What's the idea of dolling up old Laddie like that?" asked the Boy, as he came in for luncheon and found the Mistress busy with comb and dandy-brush over the unhappy dog.
From Lad: A Dog by Terhune, Albert Payson
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
