See Also: DRess(medicine)
dress(1)(dictionary)
re-dress(dictionary)
dress(encyclopedia)
dress uniform(dictionary)
evening dress(dictionary)
fancy dress(dictionary)
full dress(dictionary)
morning dress(dictionary)
national dress(dictionary)

dress(1) (iou)



dress noun. M16.
[from the verb.]
The action or an act of dressing. Now rare or obsolete. M16.
Clothing, esp. outer clothing; clothing belonging to a particular occupation, country, or (esp. formal or ceremonial) occasion. M16.
battledress, evening dress, fancy dress, full dress, morning dress, etc.
Dickens Your black silk frock will be quite dress enough. J. Conrad The dress I wore was..that of a sailor come ashore from some coaster. J. Raban He'd lost his head-dress..and was wearing Western dress. A. Lurie Fashion, as opposed to mere dress, is..sprinkled with foreign terms.
transf. External covering, esp. the plumage of a bird; outward form. E17.
H. J. Laski The Letter Concerning Toleration was published in its Latin dress, and four years afterwards an English translation appeared.
Orig., a suit of clothes, an outfit, an article of clothing. Now, a woman's or girl's garment consisting of a skirt and a bodice; (with qualifying noun) a garment for a specified occasion or part of the body. M17.
cocktail-dress, head-dress, nightdress, etc.
Day Lewis She wears a long dress with a dark band above the hem.
A dressing for a wound. L17-L18.
A finish put on something to set off its appearance. L19.
Attrib. & comb.: In the sense 'constituting or worn (as part of) full dress', as dress-shirt, dress shoes, dress sword, dress uniform, etc. Special combs., as dress agency an agency, shop, etc., that buys used clothes privately and resells them; dress-carriage: reserved for state or semi-state occasions; dress circle the lowest and most expensive gallery of seats in a theatre etc., in which evening dress was at one time required; dress coat a man's swallow-tailed coat used for formal dress; dress code a set of rules or guidelines specifying the approved manner of dress at a school, place of work, social occasion, etc. dress-conscious adjective aware of what is fashionable in dress, particular about clothes; dress house (now rare) a brothel; dress-improver Hist. = BUSTLE noun2; dress length a piece of material sufficient to make a dress; dressmake verb intrans. make dresses, do dressmaking; dressmaker a person, usu. a woman, who makes dresses (dressmaker's dummy: see DUMMY noun 5b); dressmaking the action or occupation of making dresses; dress parade (a) a display of clothes by mannequins; (b) a military parade in full-dress uniforms; dress-preserver = dress-shield below; dress rehearsal a rehearsal in full costume, esp. a final such rehearsal; transf. a (final) practice session; dress sense a feel for the appropriateness of certain garments to a certain person (esp. oneself) or occasion; dress-shield a piece of waterproof or other material fastened under the armpit of a dress to protect it from perspiration; dress-shirt a shirt for wearing with evening dress; dress weight (a) a small weight placed in the hem of a dress etc.; (b) cloth of a suitable weight for making into dresses.