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.

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Example Sentences

For everything getting dolled up and showing out takes, I constantly hear, instead, everyone say they had so much fun that night.

From Salon • Mar. 31, 2025

Her two-layer cakes get dolled up with black sesame Oreo buttercream, red miso caramel and other Asian umami flavors.

From Seattle Times • Nov. 24, 2023

Grant made sure some of their parents who were incarcerated got photos of their kids all dolled up in dresses and tuxedos.

From Los Angeles Times • Oct. 19, 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

There Sierra’s mom and Tía Rosa stood next to each other outside a skating rink on Empire Boulevard, all dolled up and smiling.

From "Shadowshaper" by Daniel José Older