Pimpant

Part of speech: adjective

Definitions

1. Smartly dressed and neat in appearance, often in a showy or elegant way that draws attention
2. Describing someone who is trimly turned out in fine clothes, with a polished and tidy look
3. Characterizing a person or thing that is spruce, dapper and carefully arrayed in attractive attire

Etymology: Before it meant "smartly dressed," this word was a French verb about decorating yourself. In Old French, "pimper" meant to deck oneself out finely, and "pimpant" was its present participle, describing someone who was doing exactly that, or who looked as though they had. English borrowed the adjective from French in the Middle Ages, and early English writers used it of people and things that were trim, showy, or spruced up. Where "pimper" itself came from is uncertain. Dictionaries generally record its origin as unknown, so any link to a particular source language would be guesswork. The English sense has narrowed and softened over the centuries. It now mostly suggests someone neat, jaunty, and a bit self-satisfied in their appearance. Older uses could also imply pertness or sprightliness, which is why it sometimes appears in comic or mock-elegant writing.

Synonyms: spruce, dapper, natty, smart

Antonyms: shabby, slovenly