BEDIZEN: "To dress or adorn in gaudy manner"

By MsW

"Bedizen" means to dress or decorate in a gaudy, flashy, or overly elaborate manner. It's often used to describe something that's excessively adorned or decorated.

Etymology: The word "bedizen" originates from the Middle English term "bedes" or "bedeck," which means to adorn or deck out. It is believed to have been derived from the Old English word "beddian," which means to dress or prepare.

Sample sentences:

  • She decided to bedizen her outfit with sequins, glitter, and feathers for the costume party.

  • The palace was bedizened with extravagant tapestries and gold-plated decorations.

  • The actor's portrayal of the king was accompanied by a bedizened robe encrusted with faux jewels.

  • The storefront was bedizened with bright lights and neon signs, attracting attention from blocks away.

    Despite the fashion trend favoring simplicity, she preferred to bedizen herself in bold colors and intricate jewelry.

Word of the Day for Friday, March 14, 2008

bedizen \bih-DY-zuhn\, transitive verb:

To dress or adorn in gaudy manner.

At 18, he attended a party "frizzled, powdered and curled, in radiant pink satin, with waistcoat bedizened
with gems of pink paste and a mosaic of colored foils and a hat blazing
with 5,000 metallic beads," according to Michael Battersberry in
"Fashion, The Mirror of History."
-- Donna Larcen, "Details Details: Everything Old Is New Again", St. Louis Post-Dispatch, May 19, 1994
. . .Ford's 2001-model F-150 SuperCrew "Harley-Davidson" model. This special edition pickup truck is bedizened with enough chrome, leather, and H-D logos to bring a RUBbie (Rich Urban Biker) weeping to his knees.
-- "Summer Autos 2001", Newsday, May 19, 2001

Bedizen is the prefix be-, "completely; thoroughly; excessively" + dizen, an archaic word meaning "to deck out in fine clothes and ornaments," from Middle Dutch disen, "to dress (a distaff) with flax ready for spinning," from Middle Low German dise, "the bunch of flax placed on a distaff."

Dictionary.com Entry and Pronunciation for bedizen

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