O rich! rich! vvhere ſhould I get clothes todreſſe her in?
1640 (date written),H[enry] M[ore], “ΨΥΧΟΖΩΙΑ[Psychozōia], or A Christiano-platonicall Display of Life,[…]”, inΨΥΧΩΔΙΑ[Psychōdia] Platonica: Or A Platonicall Song of the Soul,[…], Cambridge, Cambridgeshire:[…] Roger Daniel, printer to theUniversitie, published1642,→OCLC, book 3, stanza 56,page51:
Their face with love and vigour vvasydreſt, / VVith modeſty and joy, their tongue with juſt beheſt.
Sunning himself on the board steps, I saw for the first time Mr. Farquhar Fenelon Cooke. He wasdressed out in broad gaiters and bright tweeds, like an English tourist, and his face might have belonged to Dagon, idol of the Philistines.
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 todress us like charity children". We nearly crowned her we were so offended.
[A]ll the men there shouldedresse themselves like the poorest sorte of the people inArcadia, having no banners, but bloudie shirtes hanged upon long staves,[…]
1624, Democritus Junior [pseudonym;Robert Burton], “Artificiall Allurements of Loue, Causes and Provocations to Lust. Gestures, Cloathes, Dowre &c.”, inThe Anatomy of Melancholy:[…], 2nd edition, Oxford, Oxfordshire:[…] John Lichfield and James Short, for Henry Cripps,→OCLC, partition 3, section 2, member 2, subsection 3,page376:
[…]Anthony [i.e.,Mark Antony] himſelfe was quite beſotted withCleopatra’s ſweete ſpeeches, philters, beauty, pleaſing tires: for when ſhe ſailed along the riuerCydnus, with ſuch incredible pompe in a guilded ſhip, her ſelfedreſſed likeVenus, her maides like theGraces, her Pages like ſo manyCupids,Anthony was amazed, & rapt beyond himſelfe.
[H]e and I[…] to the King's playhouse; and by and by comes Mr. Lowther and his wife and mine, and into a box, forsooth, neither of them beingdressed, which I was almost ashamed of.
[B]eing ill-used by the above-mentioned widow, he was very serious for a year and a half; and though, his temper being naturally jovial, he at last got over it, he grew careless of himself, and neverdressed afterwards.
[T]he Hour appointed by Mr.Weſtern now drew ſo near, that he had barely Time left todreſs himſelf.
1760,Oliver Goldsmith, “Letter XIV. From the Same[From Lien Chi Altangi, to Fum Hoam, First President of the Ceremonial Academy at Pekin, in China].”, inThe Citizen of the World; or Letters from a Chinese Philosopher,[…], volume I, London:[…][F]or the author; and sold by J. Newbery and W. Bristow,[…]; J. Leake and W. Frederick,[…]; B. Collins,[…]; and A. M. Smart and Co.[…], published1762,→OCLC,pages48–49:
As I wasdreſſed after the faſhion of Europe, ſhe had taken me for an Engliſhman, and conſequently ſaluted me in her ordinary manner; but when the footman informed her grace that I was the gentleman from China, ſhe inſtantly lifted herſelf from the couch, while her eyes ſparkled with unuſual vivacity.
1610,William Camden, “Romans in Britaine”, inPhilémon Holland, transl.,Britain, or A Chorographicall Description of the Most Flourishing Kingdomes, England, Scotland, and Ireland,[…], London:[…][Eliot’s Court Press for] Georgii Bishop & Ioannis Norton,→OCLC,page61:
[Domitian] after his manner, with a cheerfull countenance and grieved heart, received the newes: being inwardly pricked, to think that his later counterfet triumph of Germany, wherin certain ſlaves bought for mony were attired and their hairedreſſed as captives of that country, was had in deriſion and iuſtly skorned abroad:[…]
By and by the King and Queen, who looked in this dress (a white laced waistcoat and a crimson short pettycoat, and her hairdressedà la negligence) mighty pretty; and the King rode hand in hand with her.
But at night I would roam abroad and play / With the mermaids in and out of the rocks, /Dressing their hair with the white sea-flower, / And holding them back by their flowing locks[…]
There was no occasion for[Francis] Jeffrey to have written with such extreme harshness. If he felt obliged to expostulate, he might havedressed his censures in a kinder form.
Now when the towne his ſommonds did diſdain, / To conquer it perforce he plyde his pain: / And their, th’Inginers haue theTrepandreſt, / And reared vp theRamme for batterie beſt:[…]
AndAaron ſhall burne thereon [i.e., on the altar of incense] ſweet incenſe euery morning: when hedreſſeth the lamps he ſhal burn incenſe vpon it.
1697,Virgil, “The Seventh Book of theÆneis”, inJohn Dryden, transl.,The Works of Virgil: Containing His Pastorals, Georgics, and Æneis.[…], London:[…]Jacob Tonson,[…],→OCLC,page411, lines378–379:
Three hundred Horſes, in high Stables fed, / Stood ready, ſhining all, and ſmoothlydreſſ'd;[…]
The ſkinnes of Dogges aredreſſed for gloues, and cloſe Bootes, the vvhich are vſed by ſuch as haue vicerous and ſvvelling Legges or Limbes, for by them the aflicted place receiueth a double reliefe; firſt, it reſiſteth the influent humors, and ſecondly, it is not exaſperated with VVoollen.
Very little buſineſs appeared to be going forward in Lichfield. I found however two ſtrange manufactures for ſo inland a place, ſail-cloth and ſtreamers for ſhips; and I obſerved them making ſome ſaddle-cloths, anddreſſing ſheepſkins; but upon the whole, the buſy hand of induſtry ſeemed to be quite ſlackened.
He skinned the rabbits, and gave the dogs the one they had quarreled over, and the skin of this hedressed and hung up to dry, feeling that he would like to keep it. It was a particularly rich, furry pelt with a beautiful white tail.
(especially ofores) To prepare by any of many types of physicalprocessing (e.g., breaking, crushing, sorting, sieving, controlled burning or heating).
Gard[ener]. Oh what pitie is it that he had not ſo trimde, / Anddreſt his land as vve this garden at time of yeare / Do vvound the barke, the skinne of our fruit trees,[…]Queene. Oh I am preſt to death through vvant of ſpeaking / Thou oldAdams likeneſſe ſet todreſſe this garden, / How dares thy harſh rude tong ſound this vnpleaſing nevvs?
But as hedressed the carcass—cutting it up to bring home—Borg’s gratitude gave way to revulsion. When he tried to extract the liver, which should have been firm and meaty, it deliquesced into a bloody sludge, sliding goopily through his fingers.
Old vvom[an]: [O]nce vppon a time his daughter was ſtollen avvay, and hee ſent ſo long, that he ſent all his men out of his Land. /Frol[icke]: VVhodreſt his dinner then?
These two girls had been above an hour in the place, happily employed in visiting an opposite milliner, watching the sentinel on guard, anddressing a sallad and cucumber.
2012, Marvin Silbersher, chapter 22, inA Fistful of Stars,[Bloomington, Ind.]:Xlibris,→ISBN,page106:
Mallory, all night long, single-handedly painted anddressed 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.
[...] I say, bid come before vs Angelo: What figure of vs thinke you, he will beare. For you must know, we haue with speciall soule Elected him our absence to supply; Lent him our terror,drest him with our loue, And giuen his Deputation all the Organs Of our owne powre: What thinke you of it?
Oh how it ernd my hart when I beheld, / In London ſtreetes, that Coronation day, / VVhen Bullingbroke rode on Roane Barbarie. / That horſe, that thou ſo often haſt beſtride. / That horſe, that I ſo carefully hauedreſt.
[1470–1485 (date produced),Thomas Malory, “Capitulum xviij”, in[Le Morte Darthur], book IV (in Middle English), [London:[…] byWilliam Caxton], published31 July 1485,→OCLC, leaf 222, recto; republished as H[einrich] Oskar Sommer, editor,Le Morte Darthur[…], London:David Nutt,[…],1889,→OCLC,page142, lines19–21:
[S]yr 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 ⸝ anddreſſyd hym toward syr Marhaus on foote ⸝[…]
SirGawain's spear broke, but Sir Marhaus's [i.e., Morholt of Ireland's] spear held; and therewith Sir Gawain and his horse rushed down to the earth, and lightly Sir Gawain rose on his feet, and pulled out his sword, anddressed [prepared] himself toward Sir Marhaus on foot,[…]]
"We'd better get ready for dinner now. I alwaysdress, because papa likes to see it." This she said as a hint to her cousin that he would be expected to change his coat, for her father would have been annoyed had his guest sat down to dinner without such ceremony.
(butchering) Of an animal carcass: to have a certainquantity orweight afterremoval of the internal organs andskin; also, to have a certainappearance after being cut up and prepared for cooking.
(military, sometimes imperative as adrillcommand) Of soldiers or troops: to arrange into proper formation; especially, toform into straight lines and at a proper distance from each other.
Right,dress!
(literally, “Form a straight line, and align yourself to the right!”)
to arrange (soldiers or troops) into proper formation; especially, to adjust (soldiers or troops) into straight lines and at a proper distance from each other
of an animal carcass: to have a certain quantity or weight after removal of the internal organs and skin; to have a certain appearance after being cut up and prepared for cooking
of soldiers or troops: to arrange into proper formation; especially, to form into straight lines and at a proper distance from each other
of a sportsperson: to put on the uniform and have the equipment needed to play a sport
The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables. See instructions atWiktionary:Entry layout § Translations.
I have been thinking, George, of changing our travellingdreſſes in the morning. I am grown confoundedly aſhamed of mine.
1857,John Ruskin, “Lecture I”, inThe Political Economy of Art: Being the Substance (with Additions) of Two Lectures Delivered at Manchester, July 10th and 13th, 1857, London:Smith, Elder and Co.,[…],→OCLC, section II (Application),page74:
No good historical painting ever yet existed, or ever can exist, where thedresses of the people of the time are not beautiful:[…]
[I]t is a kind of acting to go into masquerade, and a man should be able to say or do things proper for thedress in which he appears. We have now and then rakes in the habit of Roman senators, and grave politicians in thedress of rakes.
Your black silk frock will be quitedress enough, my dear, with that pretty little scarf, and a plain band in your hair, and a pair of black silk stock—[…]
Even in an era when individuality indress 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.
When the adults [i.e., birds] of both sexes have a distinct winter and summer plumage, whether or not the male differs from the female, the young resemble the adults of both sexes in their winterdress or much more rarely in their summerdress, or they resemble the females alone; or the young may have an intermediate character; or again they may differ greatly from the adults in both their seasonal plumages.
Sir, although / VVe may be ſaid to vvant theguilt, and trappings, / Thedreſſe ofHonor; yet vve ſtriue to keepe, / The ſeedes, and theMaterialls.
1663, Robert Boyle,Some Considerations Touching the Style of the H[oly] Scriptures.[…], London:[…]Henry Herringman,[…],→OCLC,pages163–164:
[…] Eloquence, theDreſs of our Thoughts, like the Dreſs of our Bodies, differs not only in ſeveral Regions, but in ſeveral Ages.
1711 May 14 (Gregorian calendar),J[ohn] G[ay],The Present State of Wit, in a Letter to a Friend in the Country, London:[s.n.],→OCLC,page14:
He has indeed reſcued it [i.e., learning] out of the hands of Pedants and Fools, and diſcover'd the true method of making it amiable and lovely to all mankind: In thedreſs he gives it, 'tis a moſt welcome gueſt at Tea-tables and Aſſemblies, and is reliſh'd and careſſed by the Merchants on the Change;[…]
item of outer clothing or set of such clothes (worn either by people of all sexes) which is generally decorative and appropriate for a particular occasion, profession, etc.
, Oxford:Oxford University Press, December 2021;“dress,v.”, inLexico,Dictionary.com;Oxford University Press,2019–2022.
dress on Wikipedia.Wikipedia
