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dress definition

Overview

This page has 23 definitions of dress in English and Norwegian Bokmål. Dress is a verb and noun. Examples of how to use dress in a sentence are shown. Also define these 34 related words and terms: clothe, clothes, sports, transitive, intransitive, uniform, season, prepare, adorn, ornament, nautical, jack, theater, film, television, set, prop, scenery, treat, surface, material, manure, bolt, sift, flour, military, clothing, skirt, apparel, furrow, millstone, dress rehearsal, suit, and dresse.

See also: Dress

English dress definition

Etymology

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

Pronunciation

Verb

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

  1. (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[1]:
      ‘[…] 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”. […]’.
  2. (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.
  3. (sports, transitive, intransitive) To put on the uniform and equipment necessary to play the game.
    Due to a left ankle sprain, Kobe Bryant did not dress for the game against Indiana
  4. (intransitive, euphemistic) Of a man, to allow the genitals to fall to one side or other within the trousers. [from 20thc.]
    Does sir dress to the right or the left?
  5. (transitive) To prepare (food) for cooking, especially by seasoning it. [from 15thc.]
  6. (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
  7. To adorn, ornament. [from 15thc.]
    It was time to dress the windows for Christmas again.
    • Adorn definition
      To make more beautiful and attractive; to decorate.
  8. (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.
  9. (transitive, theater, film, television) To prepare (a set) by installing the props, scenery, etc.
    • 2012, Marvin Silbersher, A Fistful of Stars (page 106)
      Mallory, all night long, single-handedly painted and dressed the set so that at eight o'clock Sunday morning when we arrived to make breakfast in the kitchen, there she was sound asleep on the davenport in the set, every prop in place.
    • Television definition
      An electronic communication medium that allows the transmission of real-time visual images, and often sound. (1 of 4 television definitions)
  11. (transitive) To treat (a wound, or wounded person). [from 15thc.]
  12. 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
  13. (transitive) To prepare the surface of (a material; usually stone or lumber).
  14. (transitive) To manure (land).
  15. (transitive) To bolt or sift flour.
    • Bolt definition
      A (usually) metal fastener consisting of a cylindrical body that is threaded, with a larger head on one end. It can be inserted into an unthreaded hole up to the head, with a nut then threaded on the other end; a heavy machine screw. (1 of 14 bolt definitions)
  16. (military, transitive, intransitive, sometimes imperative) To arrange in exact continuity of line, as soldiers; commonly to adjust to a straight line and at proper distance; to align.
    to dress the ranks
    Right, dress!
  17. To break and train for use, as a horse or other animal.

Synonyms

Antonyms

Derived terms

terms derived from dress (verb)

Related terms

Translations

to manure land — see manure
The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables, removing any numbers. Numbers do not necessarily match those in definitions. See instructions at Dictionary:Entry layout § Translations.
Translations to be checked

Noun

dress (countable and uncountable, plural dresses)

Woman wearing a dress.
  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.
    • 1963, Margery Allingham, chapter 2, in The China Governess‎[4]:
      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.
  2. (uncountable) Apparel, clothing.
    • 1963, Margery Allingham, chapter 6, in The China Governess‎[5]:
      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.
  3. The system of furrows on the face of a millstone.
  4. A dress rehearsal.

Derived terms

terms derived from dress (noun)

Descendants

  • → Japanese: ドレス (doresu)
  • → Korean: 드레스 (deureseu)
  • → Norwegian: dress
  • → Pennsylvania German: Dress
  • → Scottish Gaelic: dreasa

Translations

See also

Further reading

Norwegian Bokmål dress definition

Etymology 1

From English dress (verb: kle på seg)

Noun

dress m (definite singular dressen, indefinite plural dresser, definite plural dressene)

  1. (clothing) a suit (either formal wear, or leisure or sports wear)

Etymology 2

Verb

dress

  1. imperative of dresse
    • Dresse definition
      first-person singular present indicative of dresser (1 of 5 dresse definitions)

References

Norwegian Nynorsk dress definition

Etymology

From English dress (verb: kle på seg)

Noun

dress m (definite singular dressen, indefinite plural dressar, definite plural dressane)

  1. (clothing) a suit (either formal wear, or leisure or sports wear)

References