dolled up

Idioms  

1. Also, all dolled up. Dressed or fixed up smartly and, often, ostentatiously, usually for a special occasion. For example, There's no need to get all dolled up—it's just a picnic, or They dolled up the classroom for parents' night. This expression alludes to a person or object being as attractive as a pretty doll. It is also put verbally, to doll up, as in I wanted to doll up my apartment before the guests arrived. [Colloquial; c. 1900] Also see gussied up.

---

Example Sentences

For sapphic and queer nightlife in L.A., these shows are a rejuvenating occasion to get dolled up despite a brutal political moment and generally bleak mood for going out in L.A.

From Los Angeles Times • Oct. 9, 2025

And then when she's all dolled up or she thinks that things are going good, you see these pinks and the lilac and the greens more when she's happy.

From Salon • May 16, 2024

“She was all dolled up in cheap punky gear, the kind of club kid who looked absurdly out of place in a cardiac ward,” he wrote.

From Seattle Times • Apr. 2, 2023

It can easily be dolled up – made red with peppers or pink with beetroot and topped with pretty ingredients.

From BBC • Feb. 13, 2023

I had never seen Miss Love when she wasn’t dolled up like one of those M. Rich & Bros. fashion advertisements in the Atlanta newspapers.

From "Cold Sassy Tree" by Olive Ann Burns