dizen

D2I1Z10E1N1
/ˈdɪzən/

verb

To dress with flax for spinning.

Similar
bedizen
OriginMiddle English *disen ← Old English *disan ← Proto-Germanic *disanō →
Scrabble 15
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Meanings

verbdizen (third-person singular simple present dizens, present participle dizening, simple past and past participle dizened)

present singular third person dizens · participle present dizening · participle past dizened · past dizened · alternative disen · alternative dysyn · alternative dizzen

  1. transitiveTo dress with flax for spinning.
  2. transitiveTo dress with clothes; attire; deck; bedizen.

    Like a tragedy queen he has dizen'd her out, / Or rather like tragedy giving a rout.

    1774, Oliver Goldsmith, “Retaliation”, in The Complete Poetical Works of Oliver Goldsmith, published 1906
  3. UKdialectaltransitiveTo dress showily; adorn; dress out.

    I tell you, these Englishwomen have either no life at all in them, or they're nothing but animal life. 'Gad, how they dizen themselves! They've no other use for their fingers. The wealth of this country's frightful!'

    1871, George Meredith, chapter XXXIX, in The Adventures of Harry Richmond

Synonyms & antonyms

verbdress up garishly and tastelessly

Similar
bedizen
Broader
overdressdress upfig out
Also see
bedizen

Synonym sets from Open English WordNet, CC BY 4.0.

Origin

  1. Proto-Germanic*disanō“distaff”
  2. Old English*disan
  3. Middle English*disen
  4. Englishdizen

From dialectal dize (“to put tow on a distaff”), from Middle English *disen, from Old English *disan, *disian, from *dise, *disen (“bunch of flax on a distaff”), from Proto-Germanic *disanō (“distaff”), of unknown origin, equivalent to dize + -en. Cognate with Saterland Frisian Diezene (“bundle of flax, distaff”), Middle Low German dise, disene (“distaff”).

More words from Middle English, Old English, Proto-Germanic

Full word history & related roots →

Rhymes & wordplay

Anagrams

Deniz
Cite this entry
APA

dizen. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 2, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/dizen

MLA

“dizen.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/dizen. Accessed November 2, 2026.

Chicago

WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “dizen,” accessed November 2, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/dizen.

Source: dizen on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.