Jack-a-Dandy

A term of endearment for a smart, bright little fellow; a Jemmy Jessamy.

“Smart she is, and handy, O!

And Iʹm her Jack-a-dandy, O!”

Jack - a - dandy. Slang for brandy. Dandy rhymes with brandy. (See Chivy.)

⁂ In Ireland “dandy” means whisky: but whisky = eau de vie; and eau de vie is brandy.

“Dimidium cyathi vero apud Methropolitānos Herbernicos dicitur Dandy.”—Blackwood’s Magazine, May, 1838 (Father Tom and the Pope).

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Entry taken from Dictionary of Phrase and Fable, edited by the Rev. E. Cobham Brewer, LL.D. and revised in 1895.