dress blues
5
6.1
- noun
- /drɛs bluz/
- Jargon
:
uniforme de gala
- He looked sharp in his dress blues during the official ceremony.
- wear your dress blues
- full dress blues
Then half the uniform is Air Force dress Blues and the other half is Army Class A's.
- Then half the uniform is Air Force dress Blues and the other half is Army Class A's.
- You know, I remember sharing this video of this Marine dressed in his dress Blues.
Examples
-
Beside him, sporting a chest full of commendations on his dress blues, is Nick Chen.
Fiction book (1999) -
The headline read "LOCAL PRISONER OF WAR TO COME HOME," and was accompanied by that same photograph of my father in his dress blues.
Fiction book (1993) -
Well, we do still have his dress blues.
-
Then half the uniform is Air Force dress Blues and the other half is Army Class A's.
-
But that was later; in the memory dream? Whatever, he was wearing navy dress blues.
Fiction book (1998) -
And everybody lined up at attention in dress blues.
Fiction book (1991) -
Wear your dress blues and participate in school events commemorating this holiday.
Academic text (2011) -
Tobias was there, the thirty men of his command turned out in their best dress blues, all of them obviously proud to have their ship back.
Fiction book (1990) -
Carl wears his dress blues every Wednesday night in the summertime at the farmers market, raising money for the memorial.
Blog text (11) -
To my new consciousness, Daddy was simply a figure in a photograph, a steely, strong-looking man in dress blues.
Fiction book (1993)
Synonyms
8
4.1
A formal uniform worn by people in the military for ceremonies and official events
8
2.9
Clothes that soldiers and other people in the armed forces wear to show who they are and for official duties
1
6.0
A very formal uniform that military or navy officers wear at official ceremonies
Surface Forms
Morphology
The components 'dress' (clothing) and 'blues' (blue garments) give a learner a reasonable hint that the phrase refers to formal blue clothing, so part of the meaning is compositionally accessible. However, the fixed, institutional sense of 'blues' as a specific military ceremonial uniform is conventional and culture-specific, so a B1 learner who only knows the separate words would likely miss the precise military/ceremonial nuance.
Etymology
Dress blues comes from military clothing: dress means a special, formal outfit and blues points to the dark blue color many services used for these uniforms. So, dress blues means 'a formal military uniform'.