dresser

¹

[ dres-er ]

noun

1. a dressing table or bureau.
2. a sideboard or set of shelves for dishes and cooking utensils.
3. Obsolete. a table or sideboard on which food is dressed for serving.

dresser

²

[ dres-er ]

noun

1. a person who dresses.
2. a person employed to dress actors, care for costumes, etc., at a theater, television studio, or the like.
3. Chiefly British. a surgeon's assistant.
4. a person who dresses in a particular manner, as specified:

   a fancy dresser;

   a careful and distinctive dresser.

5. any of several tools or devices used in dressing materials.
6. Metalworking.
   1. a block, fitting into an anvil, on which pieces are forged.
   2. a mallet for shaping sheet metal.
7. a tool for truing the surfaces of grinding wheels.

dresser

¹

/ ˈdrɛsə /

noun

1. a person who dresses in a specified way

   a fashionable dresser

2. theatre a person employed to assist actors in putting on and taking off their costumes
3. a tool used for dressing stone or other materials
4. a person who assists a surgeon during operations
5. See window-dresser

dresser

²

/ ˈdrɛsə /

noun

1. a set of shelves, usually also with cupboards or drawers, for storing or displaying dishes, etc
2. a chest of drawers for storing clothing in a bedroom or dressing room, often having a mirror on the top

Word History and Origins

Origin of dresser¹

First recorded in 1350–1400; Middle English dresso(u)r, dressur(e), “sideboard,” from Anglo-French; Middle French dresseur, Old French dreçor, dreceor(e), equivalent to dreci(ier) “to dress ” + -ore -ory ²

Origin of dresser²

First recorded in 1400–50; late Middle English: “guide; director”; dress, -er ¹

Word History and Origins

Origin of dresser¹

C14 dressour, from Old French dreceore, from drecier to arrange; see dress

Example Sentences

Mr Gray, from Shipley, who started working as a stone dresser in 1997, used power and hand tools to make paving slabs from reclaimed quarried stone.

From BBC

But after some time, she walks out of her dresser decked in a tan football shirt and a faux fur bucket hat, in her full prowess, ready to start anew.

From Los Angeles Times

Like his famous sister, Christopher got his start as a dancer and worked closely with her at various points in her career as a dresser and creative consultant, heavily involved as a director for Madonna’s The Girlie Show world tour in 1993, and serving as the art director for her 1990 Blond Ambition World Tour.

From Salon

Ciccone started as a dresser, helping Madonna make quick costume changes between numbers, but he worked his way up to serving as art director of the provocative Blonde Ambition tour in 1990, chronicled in the documentary “Truth or Dare.”

From Los Angeles Times

Dresser Winn played every snap and completed nine of 16 passes for 72 yards.

From Los Angeles Times

Related Words

• closet
• wardrobe