rare–1. trans. To array or clothe in a fancy dress.
1878. J. T. Trowbridge, Guy Vernon, III. i., in A Masque of Poets, 226.
| But nothing can exceed a woman’s tact | |
| In fancy-dressing both herself and Fact. |
Hence Fancy dressed ppl. a., Fancy dressing vbl. sb.
1837. Dickens, Pickw., xv. Never was such ingenious posturing, as his fancy-dressed friends exhibited.
1848. Thackeray, Van. Fair, lii. Pitt Crawley declared her behaviour was monstrously indecorous, reprobated in strong terms the habit of play-acting and fancy dressing, as highly unbecoming a British female.
