bedizen
Americanverb (used with object)
verb
Other Word Forms
- bedizenment noun
- unbedizened adjective
Etymology
Origin of bedizen
Explanation
Bedizen means to decorate yourself or something else to the max — in an over-the-top flashy style. Picture big jewels and gold bling. Bedizen is used only in written form now, though because so few people know what it actually means you might well get away with saying, "Oh, I like the way you've bedizened yourself today," without getting a slap in the face. In fact, they'll probably take it as a compliment. However, people rarely use bedizen in a complimentary way. From the old Dutch word dizen, meaning "to deck out."
Vocabulary lists containing bedizen
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Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
Saab, IBM, MasterCard and clear-beer Zima are among the sponsors whose winking logos bedizen every screenful of Word.
From Time Magazine Archive
Unfazed, the Lip zipped to Manhattan to bedizen his ample middle with a $500 gold-plated championship belt from Ring Magazine.
From Time Magazine Archive
Now, all Mildred's beads, feather boas, and skin-tight finery bedizen the substantial person of Kim Novak.
From Time Magazine Archive
Elsie de Wolfe, famed mistress of decor, paid a professional compliment when she engaged Artist Wilson to bedizen her shop.
From Time Magazine Archive
He said it was quite right to embalm and trick out and hypocritically bedizen the poor innocent dead in their superior cushioned and pillowed caskets with the window in front.
From From Sea to Sea Letters of Travel by Kipling, Rudyard
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
