full dress

Related to full dress: white tie

full dress

Attire appropriate for formal or ceremonial events.

American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition. Copyright © 2016 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

full dress

(Clothing & Fashion)

a. a formal or ceremonial style of dress, such as white tie and tails for a man and a full-length evening dress for a woman

b. (as modifier): full-dress uniform.

Collins English Dictionary – Complete and Unabridged, 12th Edition 2014 © HarperCollins Publishers 1991, 1994, 1998, 2000, 2003, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2011, 2014

full′ dress′

1. the formal attire customarily worn in the evening.

2. a ceremonial style of dress.

[1755–65]

full′-dress′

adj.

1. formal and complete in all details: a full-dress uniform.

2. done or presented completely or thoroughly.

[1805–15]

ThesaurusAntonymsRelated WordsSynonymsLegend:

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Noun

full dress - formalwear consisting of full evening dress for men

dress suit, tail coat, tailcoat, tails, white tie and tails, white tie

evening clothes, evening dress, eveningwear, formalwear - attire to wear on formal occasions in the evening

morning coat, swallowtail, swallow-tailed coat - a man's full-dress jacket with two long tapering tails at the back

Translations

habit

abito da cerimonia

full dress

n (Mil) → abito da cerimonia

Collins Italian Dictionary 1st Edition © HarperCollins Publishers 1995

References in classic literature ?

He had just been to the cellar, and was in full dress too; that is, he had taken his gaiters off, and showed his little dumpy legs in black worsted stockings.

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Beneath these they spread buffalo skins, upon which they stretched themselves in full dress, with caps, cloaks, and moccasins, and covered themselves with numerous blankets; notwithstanding all which they were often severely pinched with the cold.

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His Majesty, in full dress, was accompanied by his royal Highness, M.

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His brother, Darya Alexandrovna, and Stepan Arkadyevitch, all in full dress, were waiting for him to bless him with the holy picture.

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But when her father saw her in full dress and with all her jewels about her, he said to her in his own language, "What means this, my daughter?

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In Marseilles you pay forty dollars for a first-class dress coat made by a good tailor, but in Leghorn you can get a full dress suit for the same money.

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"My dear Du Vallon," he said, "here you are in full dress most fortunately, for I am going to take you to the cardinal's."

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She was in full dress this evening; and her appearance was certainly calculated to impress all beholders.

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This head-gear, in conjunction with a pair of gloves worn within doors, she seemed to consider as at once a kind of armour against misfortune (invariably assuming it when in low spirits or difficulties), and as a species of full dress. It was therefore with some sinking of the spirit that her husband beheld her thus heroically attired, putting down her candle in the little hall, and coming down the doorsteps through the little front court to open the gate for him.

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Belle and Trix were there in full dress; and, in the pauses between different pieces, Messrs.

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All three were habited in strict holiday costume; that is to say, they were wrapped up to the chins, and wore as many clothes as possible, which is, and has been, a stage-coachman's idea of full dress ever since stage- coaches were invented.

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A gentleman lounging, full dressed, on a sofa, with an opera-glass in his hand, passed before my view, and also my own figure at full length in a glass.