gussy up

present singular third person gussies up · participle present gussying up · participle past gussied up · past gussied up · alternative gussie up

1. USinformalintransitiveTo don fancy clothing; to dress up particularly in flattering or specially altered garments.

   You bet she'll gussy up for the party.

   1 more example

   Not trusting filmgoers to catch the drift, Ms. Coppola underscores the women’s attempts to gussy up with snippets of arch dialogue.

   2017 June 30, Ruth La Ferla, “In ‘The Beguiled,’ Pretty Confections Whipped Up to Seduce”, in The New York Times, →ISSN, archived from the original on 27 Oct 2018

   Synonyms: doll up

2. USinformaltransitiveTo make fancy or attractive, as by artificial or contrived means.

   You can have plain green beans, or gussie them up with a bit of cheese and onion.

   2 more examples

   WWE and WCW gussied up the ritual with a lot of shock-and-awe pyrotechnics and the most innovative use of video graphics this side of MTV. Not so Extreme Championship Wrestling.

   2006, Thomas Hackett, Slaphappy: Pride, Prejudice, and Professional Wrestling, New York, NY: HarperCollins, →ISBN, page 22

   The trouble arrives when he tries to gussy up his psychologist’s hat with his more elaborate public intellectual’s attire.

   2021 September 29, Jennifer Szalai, “In ‘Rationality,’ Steven Pinker Sticks Up (Again) for Reason’s Role in Human Progress”, in The New York Times, →ISSN, archived from the original on 21 Mar 2022

   Synonyms: spruce up