What Does the Phrase Dressing Down Meaning?

transitive verb. : to reprove severely. intransitive verb. : to dress casually especially for reasons of fashion.

What does the saying dressing down mean?

English Language Learners Definition of dressing-down

: the act of speaking angrily to someone about something done wrong.

Where did the phrase dressing down come from?

In the 15th century the verb dress alone was used in the sense of "punish," down being added several centuries later. It also gave rise to the noun dressing down for punishment with blows or words. For example, The teacher gave the girls a severe dressing down.