Dicky

Part of speech: adjective

Pronunciation: /ˈdɪki/

Definitions

1. A small, removable front piece of a shirt worn to imitate a full shirt ; describing something that does not work properly or is unreliable
2. A false shirtfront that can be worn separately from a shirt ; referring to an item or person that is defective or not trustworthy
3. A detachable front portion of a shirt used to mimic an entire garment ; indicating that something is functioning poorly or cannot be depended on

Etymology: The shirtfront sense is the one with a clear story. A "dicky" was a detachable false front for a shirt, and the term is usually linked to the affectionate pet form of Richard, "Dicky," though the link is uncertain. The 'dick' in English dialect could also mean a leather apron, and the word may have picked up that sense from a similar-sounding source. The meaning that "defective or not trustworthy" grew from the phrase "on the dicky," a slang expression for something unreliable, and the modern adjective traces back to the same family of words. The exact path from the shirtfront to the sense of faulty or untrustworthy is not well documented, so it is best understood as a loose association rather than a firmly traced line. Some sources suggest the noun may be an alteration of "dickens," a euphemistic word for the devil, but this too is unconfirmed. The word's history is therefore a cluster of plausible routes, and the surest facts are the name Richard and the dialect and slang uses that followed.

Synonyms: unreliable, unsteady

Antonyms: stable, reliable