dressing room

Noun

dressing room (plural dressing rooms)

1. A room used for dressing or changing clothes.
   • The storeroom is not a suitable dressing room. A separate room is needed where workers may change from street clothes to uniforms and where they may keep their personal belongings.1949 March, Bureau of Human Nutrition and Home Economics, Agricultural Research Administration, United States Department of Agriculture; Production and Marketing Administration, U.S. Dept. of...
   1. A small room adjoining a domestic bedroom where people may dress or undress in privacy.
      • That on Sunday the 10th. of June laſt paſt, about 9 of the Clock, as he came out of the Chappel at Whitehall, after the firſt Sermon, hearing that the Queen was in Labour, he, the Deponent, made Haſte to St. James’s, becauſe in waiting, as an Officer of the green Cloth, to warn the ſeveral Servants...[1688], “Sir Stephen Fox Knight, Deposeth”, in Depositions Taken the 22d. of October 1688. before the Privy-Council and Peers of England; Relating to the Birth of the (then) Prince of Wales....
      • The principle which governs the providing of Dressing-rooms seems to be this. […] Then comes the case of one Dressing-room, by which it may be said the gentleman's toilet is taken out of the lady's way, she retaining the Bed-room; and this admits of the attendance of a lady's-maid. Then follows the...1864, Robert Kerr, “An Ordinary Dressing-room”, in The Gentleman's House; or, How to Plan English Residences, from the Parsonage to the Palace; with Tables of Accommodation and Cost, and a Series of...
   2. A room in a theatre or other performance venue in which performers may change costumes and apply makeup.
      • Nothing has more excited the curioſity of mankind at all times, than that deſire which prevails of prying into the ſecret actions of great and illustrious characters; ariſing in ſome, from a too general ſpirit of envy, which hopes to find ſomething in their private conduct that may ſully the luſtre...1784, Thomas Sheridan, “Section VI. Private Memoirs of Swift”, in The Life of the Rev. Dr. Jonathan Swift, Dean of St. Patrick's, Dublin, volume I, London: Printed for C[harles] Bathurst [et al.]...
      • A reporter found him [John Gielgud] in a silk dressing-gown in his dressing-room, 'receiving the congratulations of a gallery of men', and clearly exultant: 'The actor was talking in quick, excited sentences, and it was obvious that the impetuous Hamlet had not yet subsided into the usual British...2011, Jonathan Croall, “A Prince on Broadway”, in John Gielgud: Matinee Idol to Movie Star, London: Methuen Drama, →ISBN
   3. (UK) A changing room at a recreational or sports venue.
      • Going into a dressing-room full of established players was not easy. It was like Lancashire all over again only more so.2005, Andrew Flintoff, “England Debut”, in Being Freddie: The Story So Far, London: Hodder & Stoughton, →ISBN
      • As half-time approached with Everton desperate to get into the dressing room and regroup, Liverpool were awarded a penalty for [Phil] Jagielka's rash challenge on [Luis] Suarez. This time there was no disputing [Martin] Atkinson's decision, but [Tim] Howard rescued Everton by diving low to his left...2011 October 1, Phil McNulty, “Everton 0 – 2 Liverpool”, in BBC Sport, archived from the original on 07 Mar 2016