gussy up

• gussie up

gussy up (third-person singular simple present gussies up, present participle gussying up, simple past and past participle gussied up) (chiefly US)

1. (informal, intransitive) To don fancy clothing; to dress up particularly in flattering or specially altered garments.

   You bet she'll gussy up for the party.

   Synonym: doll up

2. (informal, transitive) To make fancy or attractive, as by artificial or contrived means.

   You can have plain green beans, or gussie them up with a bit of cheese and onion.

   Synonym: spruce up

   • 2021 September 29, Jennifer Szalai, “In ‘Rationality,’ Steven Pinker Sticks Up (Again) for Reason’s Role in Human Progress”, in The New York Times‎, →ISSN:

     The trouble arrives when he tries to gussy up his psychologist’s hat with his more elaborate public intellectual’s attire.

• Jonathon Green (2023), “gussy up v.”, in Green's Dictionary of Slang