jaunty

comparative jauntier · superlative jauntiest

1. Airy; showy; finical.
2. broadlyCharacterized by an affected or fantastical manner.
3. Dapper or stylish.

   He wore a jaunty outfit that was all the rage.

   1 more example

   It was probably this circumstance which gave him an interest beyond any that his companion could boast of, and attracted Barnaby’s attention. There was something soldierly in his bearing, and he wore a jaunty cap and jacket.

   1841 February–November, Charles Dickens, “Barnaby Rudge. Chapter 58.”, in Master Humphrey’s Clock, volume III, London: Chapman & Hall, […], →OCLC, page 274

   Synonyms: pert, rakish

4. Ostentatiously self-confident.

   He walked down the street with a jaunty swaggering step, as if daring others less perfectly satisfied to intrude upon his good mood.

   1 more example

   When he started at sight of a clean-shaved tramp, who walked with a jaunty swing

   1897, Banjo Paterson, Saltbush Bill's Second Fight

plural jaunties

1. nauticalA master-at-arms on board a Royal Navy ship.

   ‘When libertymen come back there’s the quartermaster, the crusher, the officer of the day, sometimes the Jaunty hisself and usually Big Bill.’

   1960, J. E. Macdonnell, Don't Gimme the Ships, Melbourne: Horwitz Publications, page 74

   Synonyms: jonty

1. A traditional nickname for a Royal Navy master-at-arms