What is "dandy horse"

n. (alternative form of dandy-horse English)

The dandy horse is a human-powered vehicle that, being the first means of transport to make use of the two-wheeler principle, is regarded as the archetype of the bicycle. The dandy horse was invented by Baron Karl Drais in Mannheim, Germany, and patented in France in February 1818 (Badenian privilege in January 1818). It is also known as a Laufmaschine (Drais' own terminology, German for "running machine"), the official designation velocipede, or draisine (a term now used primarily for light auxiliary railcars regardless of their form of propulsion), and in its French form draisienne.