Dizen

Part of speech: verb

Pronunciation: /ˈdɪzən/

Definitions

1. To adorn oneself or another in an excessively fancy or showy manner
2. To put on clothes or accessories in a way that is overly ornate or embellished
3. To arrange clothing or decorations on someone or something with extravagant or flashy style

Etymology: The verb "dizen" started out as a spinner's word. Before it described fancy clothing, it meant to put a bunch of flax, or tow, onto a distaff, the stick a spinner held while drawing out thread. That older sense comes from a dialect word "dize", which in turn traces back to a Germanic word for the distaff itself, a root that Old English and Middle Low German also reflected in forms for a bundle of flax. The step from fibre to finery is easy to follow once you picture the work. A distaff was often wound with flax, and a spinner who had dressed it up with a fine, carefully arranged bundle was, in a sense, adorning the tool. The sense of decorating or arranging something elaborately gradually broadened, until "dizen" meant to dress up showily, usually with an air of excess or tawdriness.