Dashing means stylish, spirited and attractive. A dashing young officer, look dashing, a dashing figure.
It is old-fashioned and slightly romantic, and it is used almost entirely of men and almost always with affection or amusement. A dashing figure means somebody with style and confidence. Note that dashing is also the ordinary participle of dash, meaning to run — dashing about — which is much the commoner use; and that the two senses came from the same idea of moving with spirit.
1adjectivedashingStylish, spirited and attractive.
“A dashing young pilot swept her off her feet.”
2adjectivemovingMoving quickly about.
“I spent the morning dashing between meetings without time for lunch.”
dashing is a quality of spirited style.
Middle English daschen meant to strike or move violently, and it is probably imitative. The admiring sense came from the idea of somebody who moves with spirit and does not hesitate.
Middle English
daschande
English, today
dashing
From Middle English daschande, equivalent to dash + -ing.
Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA