Dressynge

Part of speech: noun, verb

Definitions

1. Putting garments on a body or decorating oneself in attire ; readying meat or vegetables for cooking or the table ; applying a bandage or salve to an injury ; arranging objects or materials into neat order
2. The act of clothing oneself or adorning a person in fine garments ; the preparation of food ahead of cooking or serving ; the binding and medicating of a wound ; the setting of things into a tidy arrangement
3. Garbing a person or oneself in apparel ; seasoning and preparing a dish for the kitchen or the table ; tending a cut or sore with a covering of medicine ; ordering or aligning items into a particular pattern

Etymology: The Middle English "dressynge" is the verbal noun of "dressen," meaning to arrange, set in order, or prepare. That verb came from Old French "dresser," which meant to set something upright or in a straight line. Old French inherited it from a Vulgar Latin verb, "directiare," built on Latin "directus," meaning straight. So the core idea is making things straight and ready. That sense of setting things in order explains the word's later range. Preparing food became dressing a salad or dressing a bird for cooking, and tending a wound became dressing it with bandages. Arranging yourself or your hair produced the modern sense of putting on clothes. Each use keeps the original notion of getting something into proper shape.