dress-up
being an occasion, situation, etc., for which one must be somewhat formally well-dressed: the first dress-up dance of the season.
Informal.Usually dress-ups.
a person's best clothes: Wear your dress-ups for the reception.
accessories or other added features: a car with custom dress-ups.
Origin of dress-up
1Words Nearby dress-up
Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2024
How to use dress-up in a sentence
I jokingly asked him how he got the award: “Did you dress up like Lady Gaga in Damascus?”
How Aasif Mandvi Became Jon Stewart’s Favorite Jihadi | Dean Obeidallah | November 16, 2014 | THE DAILY BEASTWhy not dress up conservatism with more compassionate rhetoric rather than green eyeshades?
John Kasich: The GOP’s Hobbled 2016 Dark Horse | W. James Antle III | November 3, 2014 | THE DAILY BEASTShe occasionally has to dress up as a mermaid for her gig at a fancy Miami hotel.
People dress up and pretend to be other people, and you can either make millions of dollars, or no money.
Octavia Spencer on Hollywood and Race: The Film Roles I’m Offered Are Too Small | Marlow Stern | July 31, 2014 | THE DAILY BEASTReal nerds can even dress up in character costume for their archery lesson for a cost of £25 per person.
Your parasol takes one hand; hold your dress up a little with the other.
The Ladies' Book of Etiquette, and Manual of Politeness | Florence HartleyThen he studied it over and said, couldn't I put on some of them old things and dress up like a girl?
Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, Complete | Mark Twain (Samuel Clemens)Want to dress up, an' flour your hair, an' put on spe'tacles, an' come an' play with us old folks?
Country Neighbors | Alice BrownThus men, when they wish to be priests or judges, dress up like women.
The Napoleon of Notting Hill | Gilbert K. ChestertonAnd 'tis specially lovely for me, 'cause I can stay up to dinner, and dress up, and everything.
Marjorie's Busy Days | Carolyn Wells
British Dictionary definitions for dress up
to attire (oneself or another) in one's best clothes
to put fancy dress, disguise, etc, on (oneself or another), as in children's games: let's dress up as ghosts!
(tr) to improve the appearance or impression of: it's no good trying to dress up the facts
Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012
Other Idioms and Phrases with dress-up
Wear formal or elaborate clothes, as in I love to dress up for a party. [Late 1600s] For the antonym, see dress down, def. 2.
The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary Copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
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