undress
verbnouncommon in dialogue
- //ʌnˈdɹɛs//
To remove one’s clothing.
verb
- 1
archaicTo remove one's clothing.
She undressed herself before putting on her bedclothes.
- 2
To remove one’s clothing.
The doctor asked me to undress for the examination.
- 3
To remove the clothing of (someone).
Mary began to undress her daughter in preparation for bathtime.
The young men slowly and sensually undressed each other before making passionate love.
You can brush my hair, undress me everywhere / Imagination, life is your creation
- 4
figurativeTo strip something off.
- 5
To take the dressing, or covering, from.
to undress a wound
Etymology
From Middle English undressen, equivalent to un- + dress. Compare Old English unsċrȳdan (“to undress”, literally “un-shroud”).
noun
- 1
archaicPartial or informal dress for women, as worn in the home rather than in public.
Here he had not waited above ten minutes, when Emilia entered in a most inchanting undress, with all the graces of nature playing about her person, and in a moment rivetted the chains of his slavery beyond the power of accident to unbind.
- 2
archaicInformal clothing for men, as opposed to formal or ceremonial wear.
His undress, and the agitation he was apparently in, which she imputed to the effect of her charms, combined to make him appear more interesting both to the mother and daughter […].
- 3
Now more specifically, a state of having few or no clothes on.
She returned to her dorm to find her roommate, fresh out of the shower, in a state of undress.
The visitor, observing that she held the door on the inside, and that, when the uncle tried to open it, there was a sharp adjuration of 'Don't, stupid!' and an appearance of loose stocking and flannel, concluded that the young lady was in an undress.
Forms
- plural
- undresses
- past tense
- undressed
- past participle
- undressed
- present participle
- undressing
- third person singular
- undresses