dress Meaning, Definition & Usage

  1. noun a one-piece garment for a woman; has skirt and bodice
    frock.
  2. noun clothing of a distinctive style or for a particular occasion
    garb; attire.
    • formal attire
    • battle dress
  3. noun clothing in general
    apparel; wearing apparel; clothes.
    • she was refined in her choice of apparel
    • he always bought his clothes at the same store
    • fastidious about his dress
  4. verb put on clothes
    get dressed.
    • we had to dress quickly
    • dress the patient
    • Can the child dress by herself?
  5. verb provide with clothes or put clothes on
    enclothe; garment; fit out; garb; raiment; apparel; habilitate; tog; clothe.
    • Parents must feed and dress their child
  6. verb put a finish on
    • dress the surface smooth
  7. verb dress in a certain manner
    dress up.
    • She dresses in the latest Paris fashion
    • he dressed up in a suit and tie
  8. verb dress or groom with elaborate care
    plume; primp; preen.
    • She likes to dress when going to the opera
  9. verb kill and prepare for market or consumption
    dress out.
    • dress a turkey
  10. verb arrange in ranks
    line up.
    • dress troops
  11. verb decorate (food), as with parsley or other ornamental foods
    trim; garnish.
  12. verb provide with decoration
    decorate.
    • dress the windows
  13. verb put a dressing on
    • dress the salads
  14. verb cultivate, tend, and cut back the growth of
    trim; prune; clip; cut back; crop; snip; lop.
    • dress the plants in the garden
  15. verb cut down rough-hewn (lumber) to standard thickness and width
  16. verb convert into leather
    • dress the tanned skins
  17. verb apply a bandage or medication to
    • dress the victim's wounds
  18. verb give a neat appearance to
    curry; groom.
    • groom the dogs
    • dress the horses
  19. verb arrange attractively
    do; set; coiffe; coif; coiffure; arrange.
    • dress my hair for the wedding
  20. adjective satellite suitable for formal occasions
    full-dress.
    • formal wear
    • a full-dress uniform
    • dress shoes
  21. adjective satellite (of an occasion) requiring formal clothes
    full-dress.
    • a dress dinner
    • a full-dress ceremony

WordNet

Dress transitive verb
Etymology
OF. drecier to make straight, raise, set up, prepare, arrange, F. dresser. (assumed) LL. directiare, fr. L. dirigere, directum, to direct; dis- + regere to rule. See Right, and cf. Address, Adroit, Direct, Dirge.
Wordforms
imperfect & past participle Dressed or Drest; present participle & verbal noun Dressing
Definitions
  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 addresss 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 ranks.
  3. (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
    .
    If he felt obliged to expostulate, he might have dressed his censures in a kinder form. Carlyle.
    (b) To cut to proper dimensions, or give proper shape to, as to a tool by hammering; also, to smooth or finish. (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. Shak.
    Prove that ever Idress myself handsome till thy return. Shak.
    (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 intransitive verb
Definitions
  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, Right, dress!
  2. To clothe or apparel one's self; to put on one's garments; to pay particular regard to dress; as, to dress quickly. "To dress for a ball." Latham.
    To flaunt, to dress, to dance, to thrum. Tennyson
    .
Dress noun
Definitions
  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.

Webster 1913