I. Not dressed by trimming, putting in order, or preparing in some way.
1. Of the hair. (Cf. DRESS v. 13 b.)
1445. trans. Claudian, in Anglia, XXVIII. 281. Gallia fers with heere vndressid stode with a coler of price, Holdyng in hande ij. dartys to gider.
1598. Florio, Scapigliata, desheueled, vnkembd, vndrest about the head.
b. fig. Inelegant, unkempt.
1588. Shaks., L. L. L., IV. ii. 17. To show as it were his inclination after his vndressed, vnpolished … fashion.
c. Of a horse: Ungroomed.
1731. Fielding, Grub St. Op., I. ix. Have I not left my horses undrest, to whet thy knives?
2. † a. Of places (or things) in respect of orderly appearance or arrangement. Obs.
1530. Nottingham Rec., III. 364. [He] suffreth the merkett places to be vndressed.
1611. Cotgr., Taudis,… a foule, sluttish, vnhandsome, or vndressed roome.
1635. Boston Rec. (1877), II. 4. That all the wood … shall bee gathered up, and layd or heaped in pyles,… upon the forfeyture of 6s. for every load left undressed up.
1649. G. Daniel, Trinarch., Rich. II., ccxxxix. Ashes flew about The vndrest Hearth, and the ill house-wif’d roome Lay all on heaps.
b. Of a shop-window. (Cf. DRESS v. 8.)
1883. Miss Broughton, Belinda, II. vii. In the haberdashers’ undressed windows … are to be seen nothing but bare boards and skeleton stands.
3. a. Of textile fabrics or materials. (Cf. DRESS v. 13 g and 11.)
1535. Act 27 Hen. VIII., c. 13 § 1. Whiche white clothe … shalbe … solde for lesse price … then thei shuld be vndressed.
1557. N. T. (Genev.), Matt. ix. 16. No man peceth an olde garment with a pece of new clothe and vndressed.
1617. Moryson, Itin., III. 274. Strict Lawes are made … that the web vndressed be viewed by three skillfull men, and be marked according to the goodnes.
1670. R. Coke, Disc. Trade, 3. The Exportation of our White and Undrest Clothes.
1763. Act 4 Geo. III., c. 26 (heading). The Importation of … rough and undressed Flax.
1834. McCulloch, Dict. Commerce (ed. 2), 646. Undressed hemp imported in 1831.
b. Of skins or leather. (Cf. DRESS v. 13 f.)
1808. Scott, Marm., V. v. The hunted red-deer’s undress’d hide Their hairy buskins well supplied.
1853. Kane, Grinnell Exp., v. (1856), 38. A black-locked Esquimaux, enveloped in an undressed seal-skin.
1898. Daily News, 2 Dec., 5/1. The bindings in undressed morocco which mellows with age.
c. Of stone or wood. (Cf. DRESS v. 11.)
1846. Hull & Lincoln Railway Bill, 11. All undressed materials for the repair of public roads.
1854. H. Miller, Sch. & Schm. (1838), 101. Flat undressed stones lay thick amid the rank grass.
1893. Earl Dunmore, Pamirs, I. 22. Piers composed entirely of undressed logs.
4. Of wounds or sores. (Cf. DRESS v. 10.)
1597. A. M., trans. Guillemeau’s Fr. Chirurg., 45 b/2. Simple Fractures, we keep sometimes sixe or seaven dayes vndressed.
1669. Earl Orrery, Parthen. (1676), 781. Those sleight hurts I had received, were still undrest.
1747. Doddridge, Col. Gardiner, 12. The poor Patient’s Wound being still undressed.
1782. J. Warton, Ess. Pope, II. ix. 102. With their wounds undressed and putrifying.
1848. T. Aird, Christian Bride, III. xxxii. That I may know if, still his wounds undressed, ’Tis safe to move him farther on his way.
5. Of grounds, trees, etc. (Cf. DRESS v. 13 c.)
1611. Bible, Lev. xxv. 5 Thou shalt not … gather the grapes of thy Vine vndressed. Ibid., 2 Esdras xvi. 78. Like as a field is … left vndressed.
1697. Dryden, Virg. Past., II. 104. Thy vineyard lies half-pruned, and half-undressed.
1780. A. Young, Tour Irel., I. 264. Crossing some of this undressed ground, we came to the point of a hill.
1813. Scott, Rokeby, II. xvii. Untrimm’d, undress’d, neglected now, Was alley’d walk and orchard bough.
6. Of food. (Cf. DRESS v. 13 a.)
1647. Cowley, Mistress, Answ. Platonicks, 10. Beasts … taste those pleasures as they do their food; Undrest they tak’t.
1714. Advt., in Westm. Gaz., 18 March (1909), 2/3. If any … bring with them their own Provisions for Eating, undressed,… they may have them dress’d after their own way.
1771. Goldsm., Haunch of Venison, 21. So I cut it [sc. venison], and sent it to Reynolds undrest.
1806. A. Hunter, Culina (ed. 3), 220. A dish, that … differs very little from the flesh of an undressed lobster.
1832. R. & J. Lander, Exped. Niger, I. i. 22. The chief was eating an undrest onion.
II. 7. Not covered or invested with clothing; unclothed, naked (or nearly so).
1613. W. Browne, Brit. Past., I. iv. 474. To see misfortune spending Her utmost rage on Truth, dispisde, distressed, Unhappy, unrelieved, yet undressed.
1649. Marvell, in Lovelace, Poems (1904), 5. The Ladies … all in mutiny though yet undrest Sally’d.
1749. Fielding, Tom Jones, I. iii. He … now … recollected his being undressed, and put an end to her terrors by desiring her to stay without the door.
1815. L. Simond, Tour Gt. Brit., I. 3. The women highly dressed, or rather highly undressed, in extremely thin draperies.
1892. Daily Tel., 28 April, 3/2. What I would consider … indecent is a naked woman which represents an undressed woman.
fig. 1754. Warburton, Bolingbroke’s Philos., ii. 102. You catch his First Philosophy … undressed, and without a rag of form, but flaunting and fluttering in Fragments.
8. Not properly or fully dressed; dressed; wearing informal dress or undress.
1605. Chapman, All Fooles, I. i. 73. Undressed, sluttish, nasty, to their husbands, Spung’d up, adorn’d, and painted to their lovers.
1668. Pepys, Diary, 31 March. Took up my wife and Deb., and to the Park, where, being in a hackney, and they undressed, was ashamed to go into the tour.
1693. W. Bowles, in Dryden’s Juvenal, V. (1697), 96. Thus Blest, must Trebius to his Levees run…. Break off sweet Slumbers, drowsie, and undrest, To shew his Zeal.
1753. Richardson, Grandison (1781), II. iv. 42. You came, though undressed, with your sword on.
1792. A. Young, Trav. France, 213. The orchestra powerful, yet … the musicians all so dirty and undressed.
1859. Habits of Gd. Society, iii. 155. To be ‘undressed’ is to be dressed for work and ordinary occupations.
b. transf. Not of a dressy character; not requiring formal or full dress.
1798. Jane Austen, Northang. Abb., v. Neither at the upper nor lower rooms, at dressed or undressed balls, was he perceivable.
1809. Malkin, Gil Blas, I. xv. ¶ 3. Plain cloths … I threw aside with contempt, as thinking them too undrest.
