Dress v. t. [imp. & p. p. Dressed or Drest; p. pr. & vb. n. Dressing.]
 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.
 Note: ☞ Dress is used reflexively in Old English, in sense of “to direct one's step; to address 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.
 To dress up or To dress out, to dress elaborately, artificially, or pompously. “You see very often a king of England or France dressed up like a Julius Cæsar.” --Addison.
 To dress a ship Naut., to ornament her by hoisting the national colors at the peak and mastheads, and setting the jack forward; when dressed full, the signal flags and pennants are added. --Ham. Nav. Encyc.
 Syn: -- To attire; apparel; clothe; accouter; array; robe; rig; trim; deck; adorn; embellish.
 dressed
      adj 1: dressed or clothed especially in fine attire; often used in
             combination; "the elegantly attired gentleman";
             "neatly dressed workers"; "monks garbed in hooded
             robes"; "went about oddly garmented"; "professors
             robed in crimson"; "tuxedo-attired gentlemen";
             "crimson-robed Harvard professors" [syn: appareled,
             attired, garbed, garmented, habilimented, robed]
      2: treated with medications and protective covering
      3: (of lumber or stone) to trim and smooth [syn: polished]
      4: dressed in fancy or formal clothing [syn: dressed(p), dressed-up,
          dressed to the nines(p), dressed to kill(p), dolled
         up, spruced up, spiffed up, togged up]