dressings

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

See all 11 meanings of dressing