bedizen
verbUK /bɪˈdaɪz(ə)n/ · US /bɪˈdaɪzən/
Etymology PIE word *h₁epi From be- (intensifying prefix) + dizen (“to attire, dress, especially showily”). Dizen is derived from dialectal dize (“to put (tow) on a distaff”), probably from Middle English *disen, from Old English *disan, *disian, from *dise, *disen (“bunch of flax on a distaff”), from Proto-Germanic *disanō (“distaff”); further etymology unknown.
1
Also, Figuratively, Literary To dress or ornament (someone or something), especially in a gaudy, showy, or tasteless manner.
- Self is a great Fop and a great Slattern: Soul has given her very good Cloaths, fine Ornaments, plain and neat, but Self either leaves them, like a Slut, in every Corner of the Houſe; or vvhen ſhe puts them on, ſhe does bedizen them vvith Lace and Embroidery, Fringes and Ruffles, Patches, and Povvder, that you can hardly ſee enough of the Garment to diſtinguiſh the excellent Stuff vvhich it is made of: […]1723 August 9 (date written; Gregorian calendar), Rev. Dr. ***** [pseudonym], “A Letter of Advice to a Young Lady, who had Married above Herself, Grew Vain, and Despis’d Her Husband”, in Alexander Pope, Mr Pope’s Literary Correspondence, volume II, London: […] E[dmund] Curll, […], published 1735, →OCLC, pages 69–70:
- Thus the Violet that gayly bedizens the Mead / A fragrance more ſvveet does ſupply, / Tho' oft' rudely bruſh'd by the Traveller's tread, / Than if rear'd in the garden hard bye.1792, J[ames Cartwright] Cross, “The Orphan Boy, a Simple Pathetic Tale”, in Parnassian Trifles. Being a Collection of Elegiac, Pastoral, Nautic, and Lyric Poetry, London: […] [F]or the author, at the Minerva Press, and sold by William Lane, […], →OCLC, page 53:
4 more examples
- [T]he whole [group] had been bedizzened out, into a burlesque imitation of an antique masque.1820 January 1, Geoffrey Crayon [pseudonym; Washington Irving], “Christmas Day”, in The Sketch Book of Geoffrey Crayon, Gent., number V, New York, N.Y.: […] C[ornelius] S. Van Winkle, […], →OCLC, page 440:
- You have bedizened me in green, a colour he detests. Lo you! let me have a blue robe, and—search for the ruby carcanet, which was part of the King of Cyprus's ransom—it is either in the steel-casket, or somewhere else.1825 June 22, [Walter Scott], chapter III, in Tales of the Crusaders. […], volume IV (The Talisman), Edinburgh: […] [James Ballantyne and Co.] for Archibald Constable and Co.; London: Hurst, Robinson, and Co., →OCLC, page 48:
- They would rather see the rising generation exhibit a partiality for the tawdry tinsel in which a false philosophy bedisens its votaries, than find them intent only on the splendours of an unseen, and, to their low and sceptical minds, unreal state of existence.1838 October, “Art[icle]. III.—The System of National Education in Ireland;—Its Principles and Practice. By J. C. Colquhoun, Esq,, M.P. Cheltenham: Wright. 1838. [book review]”, in The Church of England Quarterly Review, volume IV, number VIII, London: William Pickering, […], →OCLC, page 411:
- The first who passed him was a man about thirty, with a gait at once jaunty and clumsy, and who was so outrageously bedizened with eye-glass, watch-chain, and stock buckle, gay satin waistcoat, and new white continuations meant to apologize for a seedy coat, as to give the idea of a servant out of place.1842, [anonymous collaborator of Letitia Elizabeth Landon], chapter XXXIX, in Lady Anne Granard; or, Keeping up Appearances. […], volume II, London: Henry Colburn, […], →OCLC, pages 200–201:
2
Northern England, Literary To make (someone or something) dirty; to bedaub, to besmear, to dirty.
- Slinger brast aght o'th' door like a roarin lion,—but he wor sooin collard, an' he wor soa bedisend with soft cake an' puttaty pillins at his own mother could'nt ha owned him.1876, John Hartley, “Ther’s a Mule i’ th’ Garden. A Christmas Story.”, in Yorksher Puddin’. A Collection of the Most Popular Dialect Stories, Wakefield, West Yorkshire: William Nicholson and Sons; London: Simpkin, Marshall and Co.; […], →OCLC, page 51:
- Derived terms
- bedizened, bedizening, bedizenment, bedizenry