dress-up

[dres-uhp]

adjective

being an occasion, situation, etc., for which one must be somewhat formally well-dressed: the first dress-up dance of the season.

noun

Informal. Usually dress-ups.
1. a person's best clothes: Wear your dress-ups for the reception.
2. accessories or other added features: a car with custom dress-ups.

Origin of dress-up

First recorded in 1665–75; noun, adj. use of verb phrase dress up

Well then, when Miss Norris was going to dress-up, Cayley gave it away.
The Red House Mystery
A. A. Milne
Arf of its only ousemaidin; and the other arf is dress-up and make-believe.
Press Cuttings
George Bernard Shaw
As a rule, young people love a “dress-up” party, and the guests all entered into the spirit of the thing.
Patty's Friends
Carolyn Wells
Dey tell me dat w'en slaves wus shipped to New Orleans dey had to be dress-up in nice clothes.
Slave Narratives Vol. XIV. South Carolina, Part 2
Works Projects Administration
Her first contact with him in a well-lighted room made her aware that there were other things to the person besides the dress-up.
Hungry Hearts
Anzia Yezierska