Dressmake

Part of speech: verb

Definitions

1. To fashion garments from textiles according to precise measurements for individual clients
2. To construct custom clothing by cutting and joining fabric to fit a person accurately
3. To produce garments tailored to individual measurements by assembling pieces of cloth

Etymology: "Dressmake" is a back-formation: English speakers first had the noun "dressmaking," the trade of making women's clothes, and a verb was later carved out of it by dropping the "-ing." The noun came first, built from "dress" and "making," so the verb is an extraction rather than the original form. The pattern is a familiar one in English. Speakers often treat a word ending in "-ing" as if it were a verb plus a suffix, then strip the suffix off to create a new verb. "Babysit" and "housekeep" followed similar routes, though each has its own history. Here the verb simply names the action behind the trade, so a dressmaker is someone who dressmakes, and the activity is the same one the noun described.

Synonyms: sew, tailor, design, create, fashion