dress up

dress up (third-person singular simple present dresses up, present participle dressing up, simple past and past participle dressed up)

1. (intransitive) To wear fancy dress.

   Antonym: dress down

   Everyone dressed up for the graduation ball.

   I want a job where I don't have to dress up.

2. (intransitive) To wear a costume; to put on a costume.

   We're having a party on Saturday, but you must dress up as a famous historical figure.

3. (transitive) To decorate; to prettify.
   • c. 1590, William Shakespeare, The Taming of the Shrew, Act III, Scene 1,

     Mistress, your father prays you leave your books,

     And help to dress your sister’s chamber up:

     You know to-morrow is the wedding-day.

4. (transitive) To present in a favorable light.

   Synonym: spin

   You can dress up that proposal however you want, it's still going to go over like a lead balloon.

• dressed up