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Pronunciation varies by accent · noun
(UK, historical) A two-wheeled foot-propelled vehicle with no pedals or brakes; a draisienne..
In 1817 and in 1818, France and Germany both claimed they had come up with the first mechanism for a bike. It was a piece of wood with a wheel at one end and a wheel at the other, and you walked it along. In England, they called it a dandy horse.
Because these riders preferred smooth pavements to rough roads, they tended to travel on pavements and on park footpaths, where inevitable collisions with pedestrians resulted in such practices being outlawed. The dandy horse went out of fashion nearly as quickly as it came in.
Use dandy-horse when its meaning, tone and grammar fit the full sentence. A synonym is not always a direct replacement.
Dandy-horse means (UK, historical) A two-wheeled foot-propelled vehicle with no pedals or brakes; a draisienne..
Common synonyms include hobby horse, draisienne.
The opposite depends on the specific sense.
In 1817 and in 1818, France and Germany both claimed they had come up with the first mechanism for a bike. It was a piece of wood with a wheel at one end and a wheel at the other, and you walked it along. In England, they called it a dandy horse.
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