Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary · 1913

Dress

Dress (dres) , transitive verb

[Old French drecier to make straight, raise, set up, prepare, arrange, French dresser, (assumed) Late Latin directiare, from Latin dirigere, directum, to direct; dis- + regere to rule. See Right, and compare Address, Adroit, Direct, Dirge.]

1.
To direct; to put right or straight; to regulate; to order. [Obsolete]
At all times thou shalt bless God and pray Him to dress thy ways. — Chaucer
To Grisild again will I me dresse. — Chaucer

Dress is used reflexively in Old English, in sense of “to direct one's step; to address one's self.”

2.
(Military) 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.
(Medicine) 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. — Shakespeare
Prove that ever Idress myself handsome till thy return. — Shakespeare
(d)
To break and train for use, as a horse or other animal.
Collocations (2)
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 Casar. — Addison
To dress a ship (Nautical) , 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

Dress , intransitive verb

1.
(Military) To arrange one's self in due position in a line of soldiers; -- the word of command to form alignment in ranks; as, Dress right, dress!
2.
To clothe or apparel one's self; to put on one's garments; to pay particular regard to dress; as, to dress quickly.
To dress for a ball. — Latham
To flaunt, to dress, to dance, to thrum. — Tennyson
Collocations (1)
To dress to the right or To dress to the left or To dress on the center (Military) , to form alignment with reference to the soldier on the extreme right, or in the center, of the rank, who serves as a guide.

Dress , noun

1.
That which is used as the covering or ornament of the body; clothes; garments; habit; apparel.
In your soldier's dress. — Shakespeare
2.
A lady's gown; as, silk or a velvet dress.
3.
Attention to apparel, or skill in adjusting it.
Men of pleasure, dress, and gallantry. — Pope
4.
(Milling) The system of furrows on the face of a millstone. — Knight
Collocations (1)
Dress parade (Military) , a parade in full uniform for review.