Definition of "dandy"

The gallant young Indian dandy at home on furlough — immense dandies these — chained and moustached — driving in tearing cabs, the pillars of the theatres, living at West End Hotels, — […]

1847 January – 1848 July, William Makepeace Thackeray, chapter 60, in Vanity Fair […], London: Bradbury and Evans […], published 1848

No town-bred dandy will compare with a country-bred one—I mean a downright bumpkin dandy–a fellow that, in the dog-days, will mow his two acres in buckskin gloves for fear of tanning his hands.

1851 November 14, Herman Melville, chapter VI, in Moby-Dick; or, The Whale, 1st American edition, New York, N.Y.: Harper & Brothers; London: Richard Bentley, page 68

“Gerald Croft is an attractive chap about thirty, rather too manly to be a dandy but very much the easy well-bred young man-about-town.”

1945, J. B. Priestley, chapter I, in An Inspector Calls

Somebody quite as notorious as Brummell, but whose follies have been far more mischievous; whose eloquence is great, but certainly not always refined; and to whose health many a dandy of whisky has been tossed off.

1844, William Jesse, The life of George Brummell, page 57

Grip Sures are dandy shoes for anything that comes along. Hiking, climbing, canoeing, around camp or in the gym — you can't have anything better.

1924, Boys' Life, page 27

Its gonna be just dandy / The day I take my Candy / And make him mine all mine

1945, Mack David, Alex C Kramer, Joan Whitney (lyrics and music), “Candy”, performed by Nat King Cole

A perfectly dandy cartoon feature, “The Jungle Book,” scooted into local theaters yesterday just ahead of the big day, and it's ideal for the children.

1967 December 23, “Disney ‘Jungle Book’ Arrives Just in Time”, in The New York Times‎