dress

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Woman wearing a dress.

Contents

English [edit]

Etymology [edit]

From Middle English, from Old French dresser, drescer, drecier (to erect, set up, arrange, dress), from Medieval Latin * directiare, an assumed frequentive, from Latin directus ( straight, direct), perfect passive participle of dīrigō (straighten, direct), from dis- (asunder, in pieces, apart, in two) + regō (make straight, rule).

Pronunciation [edit]

Noun [edit]

dress (countable and uncountable; plural dresses)

  1. (countable) An item of clothing (usually worn by a woman or young girl) which both covers the upper part of the body and includes skirts below the waist.
    Amy and Mary looked very pretty in their dresses.
  2. (uncountable) Apparel, clothing.
    He came to the party in formal dress.
  3. The system of furrows on the face of a millstone.

Derived terms [edit]

Translations [edit]

Verb [edit]

dress (third-person singular simple present dresses, present participle dressing, simple past dressed, past participle dressed or drest (obsolete))

  1. (obsolete, reflexive, intransitive) To prepare oneself; to make ready. [14th-16th c.]
    • 1485, Thomas Malory, Le Morte Darthur, Book IV:
      And lyghtly syr Gawayne rose on his feet, and pulled out his swerd, and dressyd hym toward syr Marhaus on foote [...].
  2. To adorn, ornament. [from 15th c.]
    It was time to dress the windows for Christmas again.
  3. (transitive) To treat (a wound, or wounded person). [from 15th c.]
    • 1590, Edmund Spenser, The Faerie Queene, III.5:
      Daily she dressed him, and did the best / His grievous hurt to guarish, that she might [...].
    • 1883, Robert Louis Stevenson, Treasure Island:
      ...he was deadly pale, and the blood-stained bandage round his head told that he had recently been wounded, and still more recently dressed.
  4. (transitive) To prepare (food) for cooking, especially by seasoning it. [from 15th c.]
  5. (transitive) To fit out with the necessary clothing; to clothe, put clothes on (something or somebody). [from 15th c.]
    He was dressed in the latest fashions.
  6. (intransitive) To clothe oneself; to put on clothes. [from 18th c.]
    I rose and dressed before daybreak.
    It's very cold out. Dress warm.
  7. (intransitive) Of a man, to allow the genitals to fall to one side or other of the trousers. [from 20th c.]
    Does sir dress to the right or the left?
  8. (transitive) To prepare the surface of (a material; usually stone or lumber).

Synonyms [edit]

  • (clothe (something or somebody)): clothe
  • (clothe oneself): get dressed
  • (prepare the surface of):
  • (bandage (a wound)): bandage, put a bandage on, put a dressing on

Antonyms [edit]

Derived terms [edit]

Related terms [edit]

Translations [edit]

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Statistics [edit]

External links [edit]