Definify.com
Webster 1913 Edition
Dress
Dress
(drĕs)
, Verb.
T.
[
imp. & p. p.
Dressed
(drĕst)
or Drest
; p. pr. & vb. n.
Dressing
.] 1.
To direct; to put right or straight; to regulate; to order.
[Obs.]
At all times thou shalt bless God and pray Him to
dress
thy ways. Chaucer.
☞ Dress is used reflexively in Old English, in sense of “to direct one’s step; to address one's self.”
To Grisild again will I me
dresse
. Chaucer.
2.
(Mil.)
To arrange in exact continuity of line, as soldiers; commonly to adjust to a straight line and at proper distance; to align;
as, to
. dress
the ranks3.
(Med.)
To treat methodically with remedies, bandages, or curative appliances, as a sore, an ulcer, a wound, or a wounded or diseased part.
4.
To adjust; to put in good order; to arrange; specifically:
(a)
To prepare for use; to fit for any use; to render suitable for an intended purpose; to get ready; as, to
dress
a slain animal; to dress
meat; to dress
leather or cloth; to dress
or trim a lamp; to dress
a garden; to dress
a horse, by currying and rubbing; to dress
grain, by cleansing it; in mining and metallurgy, to dress
ores, by sorting and separating them.And the Lord God took the man, and put him into the garden of Eden to
dress
it. Gen. ii. 15.
When he
dresseth
the lamps he shall burn incense. Ex. xxx. 7.
Three hundred horses . . . smoothly
dressed
. Dryden.
Dressing
their hair with the white sea flower. Tennyson
(c)
To put in proper condition by appareling, as the body; to put clothes upon; to apparel; to invest with garments or rich decorations; to clothe; to deck.
Dressed
myself in such humility. Shakespeare
(d)
To break and train for use, as a horse or other animal.
Syn. – To attire; apparel; clothe; accouter; array; robe; rig; trim; deck; adorn; embellish.
Dress
,Verb.
I.
1.
(Mil.)
To arrange one's self in due position in a line of soldiers; – the word of command to form alignment in ranks;
as, Dress right,
dress
!2.
To clothe or apparel one's self; to put on one's garments; to pay particular regard to dress;
“To dress for a ball.” as, to
. dress
quicklyLatham.
To flaunt, to
.dress
, to dance, to thrum. Tennyson
To dress to the right
, To dress to the left
,
To dress on the center
(Mil.)
, to form alignment with reference to the soldier on the extreme right, or in the center, of the rank, who serves as a guide.
Dress
,Noun.
1.
That which is used as the covering or ornament of the body; clothes; garments; habit; apparel.
“In your soldier's dress.” Shak.
2.
A lady's gown;
as, silk or a velvet
. dress
3.
Attention to apparel, or skill in adjusting it.
Men of pleasure,
dress
, and gallantry. Pope.
4.
(Milling)
The system of furrows on the face of a millstone.
Knight.
Dress parade
(Mil.)
, a parade in full uniform for review.
Webster 1828 Edition
Dress
DRESS
,Verb.
T.
1.
To make straight or a straight line; to adjust to a right line. We have the primary sense in the military phrase, dress your ranks. Hence the sense, to put in order.2.
To adjust; to put in good order; as, to dress the beds of a garden. Sometimes, to till or cultivate. Genesis 2. Deuteronomy 28.3.
To put in good order, as a wounded limb; to cleanse a wound, and to apply medicaments. The surgeon dresses the limb or the wound.4.
To prepare, in a general sense; to put in the condition desired; to make suitable or fit; as, to dress meat; to dress leather or cloth; to dress a lamp; but we, in the latter case, generally use trim. To dress hemp or flax, is to break and clean it.5.
To curry, rub and comb; as, to dress a horse; or to break or tame and prepare for service, as used by Dryden; but this is unusual.6.
To put the body in order, or in a suitable condition; to put on clothes; as, he dressed himself for breakfast.7.
To put on rich garments; to adorn; to deck; to embellish; as, the lady dressed herself for a ball.To dress up, is to clothe pompously or elegantly; as, to dress up with tinsel.
The sense of dress depends on its application. To dress the body, to dress meat, and to dress leather, are very different senses, but all uniting in the sense of preparing or fitting for use.
DRESS
,Verb.
I.
1.
To arrange in a line; as, look to the right and dress.2.
To pay particular regard to dress or raiment.DRESS
,Noun.
1.
That which is used as the covering or ornament of the body; clothes; garments; habit; as, the dress of a lady is modest and becoming; a gaudy dress is evidence of a false taste.2.
A suit of clothes; as, the lady has purchased an elegant dress.3.
Splendid clothes; habit of ceremony; as a full dress.4.
Skill in adjusting dress, or the practice of wearing elegant clothing; as men of dress.Definition 2024
dress
dress
English
Woman wearing a dress.
Noun
dress (countable and uncountable, plural dresses)
- (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.
- 1963, Margery Allingham, chapter 2, in The China Governess:
- Now that she had rested and had fed from the luncheon tray Mrs. Broome had just removed, she had reverted to her normal gaiety. She looked cool in a grey tailored cotton dress with a terracotta scarf and shoes and her hair a black silk helmet.
- Amy and Mary looked very pretty in their dresses.
-
- (uncountable) Apparel, clothing.
- 1963, Margery Allingham, chapter 6, in The China Governess:
- Even in an era when individuality in dress is a cult, his clothes were noticeable. He was wearing a hard hat of the low round kind favoured by hunting men, and with it a black duffle-coat lined with white.
- He came to the party in formal dress.
-
- The system of furrows on the face of a millstone.
- A dress rehearsal.
Derived terms
terms derived from dress (noun)
Translations
garment
|
|
apparel
|
|
Verb
dress (third-person singular simple present dresses, present participle dressing, simple past dressed, past participle dressed or (obsolete) drest)
- (obsolete, reflexive, intransitive) To prepare oneself; to make ready. [14th-16thc.]
- 1485, Sir Thomas Malory, chapter xviij, in Le Morte Darthur, book IV:
- but syr Gawayns spere brak / but sir marhaus spere helde / And therwith syre Gawayne and his hors russhed doune to the erthe / And lyghtly syre Gawayne rose on his feet / and pulled out his swerd / and dressyd hym toward syr Marhaus on foote
- 1485, Sir Thomas Malory, chapter xviij, in Le Morte Darthur, book IV:
- To adorn, ornament. [from 15thc.]
- It was time to dress the windows for Christmas again.
- Tennyson
- dressing their hair with the white sea flower
- Carlyle
- If he felt obliged to expostulate, he might have dressed his censures in a kinder form.
- (nautical) To ornament (a ship) by hoisting the national colours at the peak and mastheads, and setting the jack forward; when "dressed full", the signal flags and pennants are added.
-
(transitive) To treat (a wound, or wounded person). [from 15thc.]
- 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.
- 1590, Edmund Spenser, The Faerie Queene, III.5:
- (transitive) To prepare (food) for cooking, especially by seasoning it. [from 15thc.]
- (transitive) To fit out with the necessary clothing; to clothe, put clothes on (something or someone). [from 15thc.]
- He was dressed in the latest fashions.
- 1963, Margery Allingham, chapter 6, in The China Governess:
- ‘[…] I remember a lady coming to inspect St. Mary's Home where I was brought up and seeing us all in our lovely Elizabethan uniforms we were so proud of, and bursting into tears all over us because “it was wicked to dress us like charity children”. […]’.
- (intransitive) To clothe oneself; to put on clothes. [from 18thc.]
- I rose and dressed before daybreak. It's very cold out. Dress warm.
- 1898, Winston Churchill, chapter 2, in The Celebrity:
- Sunning himself on the board steps, I saw for the first time Mr. Farquhar Fenelon Cooke. He was dressed out in broad gaiters and bright tweeds, like an English tourist, and his face might have belonged to Dagon, idol of the Philistines.
- (intransitive) Of a man, to allow the genitals to fall to one side or other of the trousers. [from 20thc.]
- Does sir dress to the right or the left?
- To prepare for use; to fit for any use; to render suitable for an intended purpose; to get ready.
- to dress leather or cloth; to dress a garden; to dress grain, by cleansing it; in mining and metallurgy, to dress ores, by sorting and separating them
- Bible, Exodus xxx. 7
- When he dresseth the lamps he shall burn incense.
- Dryden
- three hundred horses […] smoothly dressed
- (transitive) To prepare the surface of (a material; usually stone or lumber).
- (transitive) To bolt or sift flour.
- (military, transitive, intransitive) To arrange in exact continuity of line, as soldiers; commonly to adjust to a straight line and at proper distance; to align. Sometimes an imperative command.
- to dress the ranks
- Right, dress!
- To break and train for use, as a horse or other animal.
Synonyms
- (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
- (clothe (something or somebody): strip, undress
- (clothe oneself): disrobe, get undressed, strip, undress
Derived terms
Related terms
Translations
to prepare oneself
|
to clothe (something or somebody)
|
|
to clothe oneself
|
|
to prepare the surface of (something)
to bandage (a wound)
to prepare (food)
Statistics
Most common English words before 1923: pale · happiness · religion · #915: dress · degree · spoken · stop