dresser

plural dressers

1. UKAn item of kitchen furniture, like a cabinet with shelves, for storing crockery or utensils.

   The pewter plates on the dresser / Caught and reflected the flame, as shields of armies the sunshine.

   1847, Longfellow, Evangeline: A Tale of Acadie

   2 more examples

   But it went through her like a flash of hot fire when, in passing, he lurched against the dresser, setting the tins rattling, and clutched at the white pot knobs for support.

   1913, D[avid] H[erbert] Lawrence, “chapter 2”, in Sons and Lovers, London: Duckworth & Co. […], →OCLC

   The other room was a kitchen, with an open fireplace, a safe, a dresser and a tin sink, with a tap from the tank outside.

   1938, Norman Lindsay, Age of Consent, 1st Australian edition, Sydney, N.S.W.: Ure Smith, published 1962, →OCLC, page 29

2. USAn item of bedroom furniture, like a low chest of drawers (bureau), often with a mirror.

plural dressers

1. One who dresses in a particular way.

   He's a very snappy dresser.

2. broadcastingA wardrobe assistant (who helps actors put on their costume).

   The leading lady also went out of her way to congratulate the young neophyte effusively on her triumph—and then slapped her unfortunate dresser on very insufficient provocation; […]

   1923, Ernest Bramah [pseudonym; Ernest Brammah Smith], “(please specify the page)”, in The Eyes of Max Carrados, London: Grant Richards, →OCLC

3. A servant to royalty etc. who helps them with tasks such as dressing.

   In the Queen's coach are the Queen's stateroom and bathroom, the Royal Family lounge, lady-in-waiting's compartment and bathroom, and dresser's room.

   1947 January and February, “South African Royal Train”, in Railway Magazine, page 47

   1 more example

   The former royal butler Guy Hunting recalls the uphill task faced by the Princess's dresser, Isobel Mathieson, each morning. 'During her many years with Princess Margaret, the biggest challenge Isobel faced each day was separating the royal body from its bed.

   2013, Craig Brown, Hello Goodbye Hello: A Circle of 101 Remarkable Meetings, page 107

4. medicineA surgeon's assistant who helps to dress wounds etc.

   On the very day that I had come to this conclusion, I was standing at the Criterion Bar, when someone tapped me on the shoulder, and turning round I recognized young Stamford, who had been a dresser under me at Bart's.

   1887, Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, A Study in Scarlet, section I

   1 more example

   Boatmen and passengers — a Chinese assistant manager and a Tamil hospital dresser whom Crabbe had met before, two Malays of occupation undefined — helped Crabbe into the launch, but Vythilingam did not move, did not even seem to see.

   1959, Anthony Burgess, Beds in the East (The Malayan Trilogy), published 1972, page 576

5. UKA football hooligan who wears designer clothing; a casual.

   Because we were the first by a long way to turn trendy, we're still the only dressers in Scotland and our enemies were easily recognised: denims and DM's, skinheads and parkas.

   2015, Jay Allan, Bloody Casuals: Diary of a Football Hooligan

6. A mechanical device used in grain mills for bolting.

   Synonyms: bolt, bolter

7. A mechanical device used in ore mills for dressing (e.g., comminution, sorting, sifting).

   ore dresser

8. datedA table or bench on which meat and other things are dressed, or prepared for use.
9. businessA kind of pick for shaping large coal.
10. One who dresses or prepares stone.

    At the dressing sheds the slate-dresser saws the blocks into various sizes and then splits the smaller units into sheets.

    2015, Frank Bennett, Alfred Pinion, Roof Slating and Tiling, page 7

plural Dressers

1. A surname.