Definitions
American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
- v. To dress oneself more formally or elaborately than appropriate or desirable.
- v. To dress (oneself) more formally or elaborately than appropriate or desirable.
- n. A skirted garment, such as a pinafore, worn over other outer clothing.
Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia
- To dress to excess; dress with too much display and ornament.
- n. Any garment worn over another in such a way as to combine with it in forming a dress; any part of costume which is obviously intended to be worn over another.
Wiktionary
- v. To wear too many clothes for a particular occasion.
- v. To wear clothing which is too elaborate or formal for a particular occasion.
GNU Webster's 1913
- v. To dress or adorn to excess; to dress too much; to dress too formally for an informal occasion.
WordNet 3.0
- v. put on special clothes to appear particularly appealing and attractive
- v. dress too warmly
Etymologies
- over- + dress (Wiktionary)
Examples
“While Mr. Siriano often cautions women not to overdress for a first date, he gives the opposite advice to men.”
“Pointing to a gown in the gallery titled “Romantic Exoticism,” Bolton noted that the overdress is made from a Japanese screen that McQueen took apart.”
Voice of America: NY Met Museum Show on Deceased British Designer Drawing Crowds
“She wore a deep yellow brocade overdress with silver lace at the neck and sleeves, the skirt open in front to show a petticoat of white silk with silver interweavings.”
“Nevertheless, it is usually better to overdress a bit than to be under-dressed.”
The Huffington Post: Karen Atkinson: Career Options for Creatives (Finding a Job)
““Well, perhaps an overdress of gray silk, and beneath it, a skirt of pearl-colored satin?””
“Sansei indeed has great fish, but I think they overdress their dishes with sauce.”
“Sounds like the Swedish girls they constantly overdress themselves and moaning about small things that i wouldn't even bother to care about.”
15 Annoying Things Most Girlfriends Do (That You Have to Put Up With) | Manolith
“He buckled his sword belt and I put on my overdress and my girdle with the knife in the sheath.”
“She wore a velvet overdress dyed a vivid magenta, and her bare neck and shoulders were smooth and youthful.”
“I loosened the laces of my overdress and shrugged it below my wingbones, and bent my neck to show him the burn scars on my back, nape, and shoulders.”
Lists
These user-created lists contain the word ‘overdress’.
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over-
above; upper; superior; eminent
overbearing, overrate, overshoot, overwhelm, overexert, overachiever, overact, overadjust, overambitious, overanalyze, overarching, overbooked and 42 more...
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I Can't Believe It's Not Listed
Words that, at the I put them here, weren't being listed by anyone else in the entire universe.
vagus, neoplanet, fadiddy, cazique, catastroika, circumciser, commonplace book, danseuse, ecopod, dichloroacetate, underlay, overlay and 374 more...
Tweets
Looking for tweets for overdress.
bilby "Still, the new recruits turn out for training in the blistering heat in this stony desert landscape wearing, beneath their heavy uniforms, the smart red, green, and black warm-up outfits intended to encourage them to engage in off-duty exercise. American trainers recognize that recruits regularly wear all their gear at once for fear somebody will steal anything left behind in the barracks, but they take this overdressing as a sign of how much Afghans love the military."
- Ann Jones, Meet the Afghan Army, tomdispatch.com, 20 September 2009. Sep 21, 2009