dresser

¹ American  

[dres-er] / ˈdrɛs ər /

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.

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dresser ² American  

[dres-er] / ˈdrɛs ər /

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.

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dresser ¹ British  

/ 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

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dresser ² British  

/ 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

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Etymology

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

Example Sentences

Chances are, you’ll be unable to find a home for large tables, breakfronts and dressers that belonged to your parents or their parents.

From MarketWatch

They were bringing my bigger-ticket items: a bed, a dresser, a chair.

From The Wall Street Journal

It only has one circular patch of visible skin—its face, which is the same light wooden brown as the old dressers around the room.

From Literature

Mrs. Clarke began folding the basket of cloth diapers and comically miniature baby clothes she had brought to fill the dresser drawers.

From Literature

Penelope knew exactly where to find the hair poultice from Miss Mortimer; she had tucked the packet in the back of her dresser drawer earlier, when she first returned to the nursery.

From Literature

Related Words

• closet
• wardrobe