Green’s Dictionary of Slang

to smarten up, to dress up; esp. as gussied up, of people, dressed up, esp. for a night out; of objects, ornamented, disguised.

1906		Canadian Mag. 476/2: She said I was all right, that she would bet her life that it would be awful if we did not get all gussied up for Sunday dinner.
1912		Ade Knocking the Neighbors 149: The young Shipping Clerk used to fly to his Kennel and get himself all Gussied up.
c.1930		(ref. to late 19C) N. Kimball Amer. Madam (1981) 207: I got Sonny and moved into a room near the beach at Coney, and gussied myself up, got into my best silk dress.
1940		M. Marples Public School Sl. 126: Gussy: of over-dressed persons.
1959		S. Bellow Henderson The Rain King 71: She was all gussied up.
1965		K. Marlowe Mr Madam (1967) 315: I repaired to the Ladies Room to gussy my mascara.
1975		L. Rosten Dear ‘Herm’ 301: You can ask anyone [...] if he or she ever ate a better Steak, Frank, or Hamburger!! I do not ‘gussy them up’ with fancy Sauces the way some of the other guys do.
1982		G.V. Higgins Patriot Game (1985) 144: Then they got all gussied up. She wore her new white suit and he looked very distinguished in his gray silk.
1993		A. Rodriguez Spidertown (1994) 98: The way you gussy yuhself up, how could I think you be hangin’ with a putona?
2001		N. Tosches Where Dead Voices Gather (ms.) 289: I remember rummaging through Faulkner’s house in Oxford, Mississippi, many years ago, before it had been gussied up.
2010		K. Barry ‘Fjord of Killary’ in New Yorker 24 Jan. 🌐 The estate agent had gussied up the history of the place in the brochure.
2018		‘Aidan Truhen’ Price You Pay 35: [M]y mood’s all gussied up with high-spec medical opiates.
2023		M. Herron Secret Hours 65: Deborah Ford-Lodge [...] had taken time to gussy up before making an entrance.