dressing
Pluraldressings
Pluraldressings
- 1A cold sauce poured over salads to add flavor.
Like a tasty liquid you pour over food to give it flavor.
She drizzled some dressing over the green salad.
This dressing tastes great with tomatoes and cucumber.
Similarsauce
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- 2
- 3A mix of bread, herbs, and other foods cooked to fill a bird or roast.
Like the soft, tasty filling put inside a holiday turkey.
Grandma made cornbread dressing for Thanksgiving dinner.
He stuffed the turkey with herb dressing before roasting it.
Similarforcemeat
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- 4The everyday act of putting on your clothes.
Like your morning routine, but only the part where you put on clothes.
Dressing takes him only a few minutes each morning.
She helps her toddler with dressing every day.
Oppositeundressing
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- 5Present participle of dress. Use this form for an action happening right now.
She is dressing the baby for school.
He is dressing quickly before the guests arrive.
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- 6Material spread on soil to feed plants and help them grow.
Like sprinkling plant food over the ground to feed the soil.
The farmer spread a rich dressing over the field.
Add a light dressing of compost around each plant.
Similarfertilizer, manure, compost, mulch
- 7A decorative finish, such as molding around a door or window.
Like a picture frame, but built around a window or door.
The carpenter added a fine dressing around the new window.
Plaster dressing decorated the edge of the ceiling.
Similarmolding, trim, surround, ornamentation
- 8
- 9Manure spread on a garden to make plants grow better.
Like food for the soil that helps a garden grow.
He worked a thick dressing of manure into the vegetable beds.
The roses thrived after a spring dressing of compost.
Similarmanure, fertilizer, compost, mulch
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Less common meanings
- 10A strong telling-off for doing something wrong.
Like getting a big telling-off from a teacher.
The coach gave the team a real dressing after the loss.
"I once saw what a dressing he gave a silly chattering fool, that answered his challenge some time before."
1886, Peter Christen Asbjørnsen, Folk and Fairy TalesHere, dressing means a harsh scolding.Similarscolding, reprimand, rebuke, telling-off, talking-to
Oppositepraise, commendation
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- 11The work of taking valuable metals out of raw rock and ore.
Like washing dirt away to find the shiny bits of metal.
The mine's dressing removed gold from the crushed rock.
Ore dressing turned raw stone into usable metal.
Similarprocessing, beneficiation, concentration, milling
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- 12Clothing, especially the fine or decorative kind worn for show.
Like a fancy costume worn to look grand.
Her silk dressing shimmered in the candlelight.
Women ought to repair the losses , time and years have made in their features, with dressings
1609, Ben Jonson, “Epicoene, or The Silent Woman. A Comœdie.”Here, dressings means fancy clothes and decorations worn for show.Note
Showing meanings only.
dressing is a form of dress
dress, verb: To put clothes on yourself, someone else, or a doll. Full entry
- Spelling
- dress → dressing: add -ing
Practice
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Origins
From Middle English, from the word "dress" plus "-ing".
From Middle English, from the word "dress" plus "-ing".