dressing

Etymology

It is inherited from Middle English dressinge, also drescinge,^[2] formed from Middle English dressen + -inge, that is dress and -ing.^[3][4][5][6] The verb dress is from Old French drecier, also dresser,^[7][6][4] from Vulgar Latin *dīrēctiō (“to make straight”),^[7][6] from Latin dīrēctus (“straight”), the past participle of dīrigō (“to set straight, direct”).^[7][6] In some Middle English uses the noun was also short for addressing.^[6]

Earliest recorded meaning

Right rule, uprightness: about 1350, in a Middle English prose Psalter, where drescing translates Latin dīrēctiō in the phrase ȝerde of drescing, the rod of right rule.^[2][4] The OED notes that this sense follows the Latin word in its post-classical sense "justice, uprightness".^[4] Etymonline dates the sense "rule, control" to the mid-14th century.^[6]

Semantic evolution

As a noun of action, dressing followed the many senses of the verb.^[4][5] The early sense of right rule died out by 1440.^[4] From the preparing of food (1362) came the stuffing, seasoning or sauce added to a dish (1504),^[4] which Etymonline dates to about 1500;^[6] the sauce for a salad is now the main sense.^[4][8] From the treating of materials (1419) came the glaze, size or starch that finishes cloth,^[4][5] which in Scotland, Ulster, Yorkshire and Cheshire was a weavers' word, as was a dressing for the length of warp prepared at one time.^[9] The care of a wound (1525) gave the covering put on it (1672),^[4] which Etymonline dates to 1713.^[6] Clothing oneself (before 1530) and styling the hair (1557) belong to the verb's sense of adorning,^[4] and in Devon dressing meant clothes or linen.^[9] Other senses followed the farmer (manure spread on land, 1600), the soldier (the alignment of troops, 1760) and the verb's sense of beating or scolding (1769),^[4][5] now usually dressing-down, which Etymonline finds in American English by 1839, first for a thrashing.^[6][5]

Timeline

• c. 1350 – right rule, uprightness (obsolete by 1440).^[4][2]
• 1362 – the preparing of food for cooking or eating.^[4]
• 1419 – the preparing or finishing of a material or object.^[4]
• 1504 – seasoning, stuffing or sauce added to food; now especially a sauce for salad.^[4]
• 1525 – the cleaning and covering of a wound.^[4]
• before 1530 – the putting on of clothes and adornments.^[4]
• 1557 – the arranging or styling of the hair.^[4]
• 1600 – the preparing of land for use; a layer of manure spread over it.^[4]
• 1672 – a covering or bandage applied to a wound.^[4]
• 1760 – the alignment of troops.^[4][5]
• 1769 – a severe reprimand, or a beating.^[4][5]
• 1823 – a glaze, size or starch giving a stiff finish to fabric.^[4]

Meanings

Noun

1. A sauce for food, especially for a salad: a dressing of oil and lemon juice.^[8][3][4]
2. (US and Canada) A seasoned mixture, as of bread and herbs, used to stuff poultry or meat; stuffing.^[8][3]
3. A covering, such as a bandage or gauze pad, put on a wound or sore.^[8][5][4]
4. Manure, compost or fertilizer spread over or worked into land.^[8][5][4]
5. Size, starch or another preparation used to stiffen or finish textiles.^[8][5]
6. The action of putting on clothes or of dressing something.^[3][5][4]
7. The preparing or finishing of a material, as in ore dressing or the dressing of hides into leather.^[5][8][4]
8. The correct alignment of troops in a line.^[5][4]
9. A severe scolding or a beating; now usually a dressing-down.^[5][4]
10. (obsolete, 1350–1440) Right rule; uprightness.^[4][2]

Word family

• hairdressing
• cross-dressing
• dressing-down
• dressing gown
• ranch dressing
• salad dressing
• boiled dressing
• dressing case

Related words

• dress
• address
• direct
• redress

References

1. ^ Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d Kurath, Hans; Kuhn, Sherman M.; Lewis, Robert E., eds. (1952–2001), Middle English Dictionary, Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press; online edition ed. Frances McSparran et al. (2000–2018)
3. ^ a b c d Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
4. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u v w x y z 27 28 29 30 31 32 Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
5. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
6. ^ a b c d e f g h i Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
7. ^ a b c The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (online 2024), 5th ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
8. ^ a b c d e f g Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins
9. ^ a b Wright, Joseph, ed. (1898–1905), The English Dialect Dictionary, 6 vols., Oxford: Henry Frowde; via EDD Online 4.0, University of Innsbruck (CC BY 4.0)