jim-dandy

[jim-dan-dee]

adjective

1. of superior quality; excellent.

   a jim-dandy sports car.

noun

plural

jim-dandies 

1. something of superior quality or that is an excellent example of its kind.

   The new infirmary is a real jim-dandy.

Word History and Origins

Origin of jim-dandy¹

1875–80; special use of Jim (proper name) + dandy ( def. )

Example Sentences

That was jim-dandy when everyone was subject to stay-at-home orders and many businesses were shuttered.

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And so begins Lazarus’s fantastic meditation on what must have been a jim-dandy of a reunion.

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So you wish you could take about 60 percent of him, take another 20 percent of something, just a pure politician and stick them together, and you’d have a pretty jim-dandy guy.”

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Je-ru-sa-lem! what a jim-dandy place.

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“There she is, and a jim-dandy of a track, too, plain as the hoof marks of a cayuse around a snubbing post!” he exclaimed, pointing.

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When To Use

What does jim-dandy mean?

Jim-dandy is an old-timey way to call someone or something great.It’s most commonly used as an adjective, as in That pie was jim-dandy! But it can also be used as a noun, as in That pie was a jim-dandy! The adjective dandy by itself, meaning “excellent” or “first-rate,” is a close synonym.Jim-dandy is also sometimes spelled jim dandy (without the hyphen).The origin of the term isn’t known, but it may be based on the title of an 1840s’ minstrel song about a Black character named “Dandy Jim” that contains racist language and stereotypes.