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

Swiftly tiring of life in the military, he found a job as a window dresser at La Rinascente - a department store in Milan - where he moved swiftly through the ranks.

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Reminding her of the men in Hancock Park in trench coats and top hats on weekends, he added, “and they are excellent dressers.”

Read more on Los Angeles Times

The verbal wordplay runs all the way through the end credits that boast a set dresser, a set bureau and a set chiffarobe.

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He said he has seen "clothing and items from the camp dressers scattered everywhere, up and down the river".

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Others resemble wireless earbuds and stress balls and decks of cards, the type of creature design that might happen when you’re in your own alternate dimension grokking at the stuff on your dresser.

Read more on Los Angeles Times

Related Words

• closet 
• wardrobe