Bedizen
Verb
- Dress up or decorate gaudily.
Example Sentences
“I don’t want to fade into the background; I want to be bedizened with rhinestones and sparkles.”
“After high school prom and maybe weddings, there aren’t many opportunities to bedizen yourself.”
“Will you bedizen yourself for the gala with me?”
Word Origin
Dutch, mid-17th century
Why this word?
Fancy clothes call for fancy words. “Bedizen” — pairing the obsolete Dutch word “dizen” (“deck out”) with the intensifier “be” — literally breaks down to “be all decked out.” This is the verb to pull out for getting dressed up in your fanciest duds, whether they’re rhinestones, sequins, silks, satins, or pressed and tailored suits. Whatever being decked out means to you, that’s what “bedizen” is for.