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”; see origin at dress, -er ¹

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Explanation

A dresser is a piece of furniture with several drawers that's used for storing clothes or other things. You might have a dresser in your bedroom that's full of sweaters. In the US, the word dresser almost always refers to a tall, upright type of furniture that's fitted with sliding drawers. You can keep your socks in a dresser, or put a dresser in your kitchen and keep tablecloths and silverware in it. If a person is called a dresser, she either works with theater actors, helping them put their costumes on, or dresses in an unusual or distinctive way: "She's such a colorful dresser!"

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

dresser

She handed him the landline phone, which was resting on a dresser by her side of the bed.

From Slate ● Sep. 17, 2026

For 35-year-old hair dresser Yannay Miranda, like many of the parents of Cuba's 1.4 million pupils, the challenges of getting ready for the new year began long before Tuesday.

From Barron's ● Sep. 1, 2026

On her dresser sat three, 8-ounce bags of powder: one empty, one unopened and one half-full.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 11, 2026

This ITV drama from the production company behind The Crown re-examines the events surrounding the killing by Jane Andrews, former dresser to the then Duchess of York, Sarah Ferguson, of her partner Thomas Cressman.

From BBC ● Dec. 28, 2025

It doesn’t even look like a bedroom anymore because the only piece of furniture left is the red dresser against the wall.

From "A High Five for Glenn Burke" by Phil Bildner

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Related Words

• closet
• wardrobe

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