to dress up
3
4.2
- phrasal verb
- /drɛs ʌp/
:
engalanar
- He loves to dress up his dog with fancy collars and hats for special occasions.
Examples
-
For the parade, they decided to dress up their horse with colorful blankets and ribbons.
-
They thought they'd get a few pictures of the dog dressed up as a hunter, to kinda just have some fun around camp.
-
You can dress up a pig however you want.
-
That was just the sheriff and some of the men dressed up like Indians.
-
It reminds me of people who dress up their animals.
-
Before the competition, she carefully dressed up her horse to impress the judges.
Synonyms
96
3.0
To make food, hair or a place look attractive by adding small items
56
3.4
Make something look nicer or more attractive for a special event
5
4.0
To dress someone in special clothes for a play or event
1
9.9
To cover a horse with decorative cloth or armor for ceremonies
To dress a horse in decorated cloth for parades or ceremonies
To cover a horse with decorative cloth or armor for a special event
Antonyms
How Decorated
Surface Forms
Morphology
The sense 'to make something seem more attractive' is a clear metaphorical extension of 'dress' (to clothe or adorn) plus the intensifying particle 'up', so a learner who knows the parts can plausibly infer the basic idea. However, the evaluative/deceptive nuance ('superficial or misleading') is not fully predictable from the constituents and may require prior exposure, so it is only partially transparent.
Etymology
Dress up comes from the old practice of putting decorative coverings, ribbons, or ornaments on horses for parades and ceremonies. So it means 'to put decorative coverings or ornaments on' animals for a special occasion.