dressing

Noun

dressing (countable and uncountable, plural dressings)

1. Material applied to a wound for protection or therapy.
   • She removed Stranleigh’s coat with a dexterity that aroused his imagination. The elder woman returned with dressings and a sponge, which she placed on a chair.1913, Robert Barr, chapter 5, in Lord Stranleigh Abroad
2. A sauce, especially a cold one for salads.
   • I was even more excited to tailor it with a choice of dressings — blue cheese, ranch, French, Russian, Italian, creamy Italian.2021 July 21, Gabrielle Hamilton, “A Salad So Good You Can Eat It for Breakfast”, in The New York Times, →ISSN
3. Something added to the soil as a fertilizer etc.
4. The activity of getting dressed.
   • Considered thus, the performance is a translation into images of bodies on display, as is well demonstrated by Monsieur Jourdain's repeated dressings and undressings.2004, Kathryn Banks, Joseph Harris, Exposure: Revealing Bodies, Unveiling Representations, page 182

   Antonyms:

   undressing

5. (obsolete) Dress; raiment; especially, ornamental habiliment or attire.
   • Women ought to repair the losses , time and years have made in their features, with dressings1609 December (first performance), Beniamin Ionson [i.e., Ben Jonson], “Epicoene, or The Silent Woman. A Comœdie. […]”, in The Workes of Beniamin Ionson (First Folio), London: […] Will[iam] Stansby...
6. The stuffing of fowls, pigs, etc.

   Synonyms:

   forcemeat

7. Gum, starch, etc., used in stiffening or finishing silk, linen, and other fabrics.
8. An ornamental finish, such as a moulding around doors, windows, or on a ceiling.
9. (dated) Castigation; scolding; a dressing down.
   • "I once saw what a dressing he gave a silly chattering fool, that answered his challenge some time before."1886, Peter Christen Asbjørnsen, translated by H.L. Brækstad, Folk and Fairy Tales, page 71
10. (dated) The process of extracting metals or other valuable components from minerals.
11. (Maine) Manure that's applied to one's garden.