English → Latin
“dress” in Latin
ōrnōto furnish, equip, outfit, prepare; to adorn, ornament, decorate; to honor, commend, praiseōrnāmentumequipment, apparatus, furniture; decoration, ornament, embellishment; adornment, (plural) regaliacolōto cultivate the land, till, tend, take care of a field or garden; to inhabit; to frequent, be the guardian of, cherish,sēricussilken, made of silk; silky, silklike; alternative letter-case form of Sēricus, of or related to the Seres or (New Latinbombȳcinussilken, silkyvestiōto clothe, dress; to adorn, attire, deck; to cover, blanketconvestiōto clothe, dresscomparōto prepare, get ready, provide, furnish; to compare, match, place together, couple, form into pairs
The English word dress itself goes back to Latin regō, through *dīrēctiāre.
Riddle & Arnold A Copious and Critical English–Latin Lexicon, 1864
dress
Clothes, [Vid: also, GARMENT]: a dress to wear in the house, vestis domestica (opposed to vestis forensis): not to put on the same dress a second time, non iterare vestem: silk dresses, serica, orum; bombycina, orum: a party-colored dress, vestis varia; vestimentum versicolor: to make a dress, vestem facere: nobody but a fool will judge of a man by his dress, stultissimus est, qui hominem aut ex veste aut ex conditione, quae vestis modo nobis circumdata est, aestimat (Sen., Ep., 47, 14); ladies’ dress, mundus muliebris: to adopt the Roman dress, Romano habitu uti: the whole nation has worn that dress ever since, quem morem vestis exinde gens universa tenet.
Splendid clothes, ornatus: vestis ornatus (general term, anything that may serve as ornament): ornamentum (as the means of beautifying): cultus (whatever serves the body as an external ornament): apparatus maguifici (splendid apparel or clothes); apparatus magnifici vitaeque cultus. Full dress, ornatus dierum sollemnium (garments or dress for particular occasions; e.g., Sunday dress); also vestis forensis; in full dress, praetextatus: over-smart or tawdry dress, cultus speciosior quam pretiosior: dissentiens a ceteris habitus: to be fond of dress, semper exornatum incedere (after Plaut., Epid., 2, 2, 42); semper nove vestitum esse (i. e., to be always dressed in the newest fashion): a person too fond of dress, qui nimio indulget vestitui; *cultus mollioris studiosus: to change one’s dress, calceos et vestimenta mutare (Cic., Mil., 10, 28).
dress
TRANS.,
To clothe, vestire: convestire (to furnish with a dress; then, also, to put on any covering): veste tegere (to cover with a dress): veste induere aliquem: vestem induere alicui (to clothe anybody with any dress): veste aliquem amicire (to cover anybody with, to wrap anybody up in anything; e.g., a cloak): to dress one’s self, induere sibi vestem or se veste: veste indui (to put on a dress); (veste) se amicire (to wrap one’s self up; e.g., in a cloak); calceos et vestimenta sumere (to put on one’s things or apparel); he used to dress himself without any assistance, et calceabat ipse sese et amiciebat (Suet., Vesp., 21). Dressed, indutus; vestitus: dressed in white, candide vestitus; albatus (in a festival garment, opposed to atratus, sordidatus, dressed in black).
To clothe elegantly, aliquem exornare, with anything, aliqua re (e.g., with a party-colored dress, varia veste).
To adorn, to deck, Vid:
To dress a wound, alligare, deligare, obligare vulnus; also praeligare (to tie in front): curare vulnus (general term, Liv.; ligare, in this meaning, is poetical).
MISCELLANEOUS PHRASES. To dress a garden, etc. [Vid. CULTIVATE, TILL]: to dress the ground for putting in the seed, agrum expedire sationibus or praeparare frumentis: to dress the hair, capillos comere; comam in gradus formare or frangere: to dress leather or hides, subigere: depsere: conficere: perficere: well-dressed skins, aluta tenuiter confecta: to dress hemp, hamis ferreis linum pectere: to dress a vine, vitem amputare, ligare (to prune and tie it up): to dress stones, saxa coaequare (Varr., ap., Non.). To dress a horse, strigili radere or subradere.
To prepare victuals for the table, cibum parare or comparare [Vid: To COOK]: to dress one’s own food, sibi manu sua parare cibum: dressed, coctus; igne mollitus (☞ not elixus, which means “boiled”); to use fire for dressing one’s food, uti igne ad mitigandum or ad molliendum cibum.
dress v.
INTR., vestiri, amiciri aliqua re: to dress like a Roman, Romano habitu uti: not to dress better than a slave, se non servo melius vestire (†): to order the people to dress in the same manner, eodem ornatu etiam populum vestiri jubere: the whole nation has dressed in the same style ever since, hunc morem vestis exinde gens universa tenet.
Quick answer
- What is the Latin word for dress?
- The usual Latin words for “dress” are ōrnō, ōrnāmentum, colō; also sēricus, bombȳcinus, vestiō. The right choice depends on the sense; see the distinctions below.
Entry from J. E. Riddle & T. K. Arnold, A Copious and Critical English–Latin Lexicon (rev. C. Anthon, New York: Harper, 1864), digitised by Fergus J. P. Walsh, CC BY-SA 4.0; Latin markup adapted by latindictionary.co.