dress down

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dress down (third-person singular simple present dresses down, present participle dressing down, simple past and past participle dressed down)

1. (transitive, idiomatic) To scold.
   • 2022 October 10, Jonathan Mahon-Heap, quoting Hugo, 29, former analyst, “‘One guy brandished a whip’ – bankers on Industry’s rampant sex, drugs and bullying culture”, in The Guardian‎:

     One night – it was 2.30am – he dressed down a graduate, screaming in her face: “Are you stupid? Are you a fucking stupid cunt?” I had never seen anything like it in a workplace, or on TV, and I haven’t since.

2. (intransitive) To wear casual or informal clothes.

• dress-down day
• dress-down Friday
• dress up

• sends word