dressed, adj. — Green’s Dictionary of Slang

dressed adj.

[SE dressed up]

(US black) of a car, filled with every conceivable decoration, gimmick and similar flashy adornment.

1927		(con. 1916) J.M. Saunders Wings (1928) 34: His father knew the ‘high powered’ car for a dressed-up flivver.
1983		R. Klein Jailhouse Jargon and Street Sl. [unpub. ms.].

dressed down (adj.) (also dressed tight) [but note recent ‘dress-down Friday’, a day on which office workers are allowed to dress casually]

(US black) very well dressed.

1974		Eble Campus Sl. Mar. 2: dressed down – dressed up (black dialect originally).
1980		E. Folb Runnin’ Down Some Lines 111: There is even a larger vocabulary that refers to being well dressed ([...] dressed tight, dressed down, dapped down, choked down).
1982		W.D. Myers Won’t Know Till I Get There 171: Esther really looked sharp. [...] My man Santini was dressed down.
1999		‘Master Pimp’ Pimp’s Rap 3: They were dressed down in leather and were talking slick out the side of their necks.
2005		W.D. Myers Autobiog. of My Dead Brother 199: He was dressed down in a gray suit with a pink shirt and some bad patent leather shoes.

dressed in (adj.) [i.e. dressed in newly issued clothes]

(US prison) clothed in a fresh uniform that denotes the new inmate; by ext. the new inmate themselves.

1949		Monteleone Criminal Sl. (rev. edn) 75: dressed in numbers To put on prison uniform upon entering prison.
1992		Bentley & Corbett Prison Sl. 26: Dressed In When a person first arrives in prison he is issued prison clothing. This clothing is new, usually oversized and easily recognizable by the other inmates. The conspicuous new inmate is referred to as dressed in.

dressed to death (adj.)

(US) dressed up fashionably / smartly.

1898

Eve. Star (Wash., DC) 24 Dec. 1/5: Wal, sir, he was drest to death in the handsummest kind of store-clothes.

dressed up like a lighthouse (adj.) (also all dressed up like a house on fire)

(US) flashily, ostentatiously dressed.

1931		P.J. Wolfson Bodies are Dust (2019) [ebook] ‘“Hizzoner” will be here. [...] All dressed up like a house on fire’.
1933		J.T. Farrell Gas-House McGinty 166: He’s all dressed up like a lighthouse.
1934		(con. 1920s) J.T. Farrell Young Manhood in Studs Lonigan (1936) 328: I saw him at Church last Sunday, feeling so swell, and dressed up like a lighthouse.

dressed up like a pox-doctor’s clerk (adj.)

dressed up like a sore finger/thumb (adj.) (also dolled up like a sore finger/thumb)

(Aus./N.Z./US) overdressed, flashily dressed.

1913		El Paso Herald 1 Mar. 23/7: The 1913 classs is considering a plan to have all the girl graduates dress in simple [...] gowns [...] instead of being dressed up like a sore thumb.
1915		Day Book (Chicago) 13 Nov. 32/2: The muscial inclinations of the general public are all dressed like a sore finger nowadays. All rags.
1918		Sun (NY) 6 Jan. 55/6: Why’re you all dresssed up like a sore finger? [...] You’re not figuring on crashing the gate at the movies in that soup and fish scenery, are you?
1919		W.H. Downing Digger Dialects 46: sore finger — An over-dressed person (e.g., ‘dolled’ up like a sore finger).
1924		(con. WWI) A.G. Pretty Gloss. of Sl. [...] in the A.I.F. 1921–1924 (rev. t/s) n.p.: sore finger. An overdressed person. (eg. ‘dolled’ up like a sore finger.).
1951		Cusack & James Come in Spinner (1960) 136: It’d be safe enough with the door open and her dressed up like a sore thumb; even an old wolf like Alfalfa would hesitate before he ruined a frock like this.
1982		N. Keesing Lily on the Dustbin 87: Young people who [...] ‘dress up like a sore thumb’ or ‘the cat’s meow’ are fair game for domestic wits.
1999		G. Seal Lingo 198: Other uses of up include [...] dressed up like a sore thumb in sartorial splendour.

dressed up to the knocker (adj.)