gussy up

verb

gus·​sy up ˈgə-sē-ˈəp 

gussied up; gussying up; gussies up

transitive verb

: dress up, embellish

Synonyms

• adorn
• array
• beautify
• bedeck
• bedizen
• blazon
• caparison
• deck
• decorate
• do
• do up
• doll up
• drape
• dress
• embellish
• emblaze
• emboss
• enrich
• fancify
• fancy up
• festoon
• garnish
• glitz (up)
• grace
• ornament
• pretty (up)
• trim

Examples of gussy up in a Sentence

gone are the days when the high school prom was held in the gym, which had been gussied up for the occasion

Recent Examples on the Web

This luxe velvet Jennifer Behr Velvet Bow Barrette is classic enough to pair with jeans and a white tee, but can easily gussy up a nap dress with a clip of its barrette (no behind-the-head, blind-tying necessary). —Angela Trakoshis, Allure, 27 Sep. 2024

Our readers offered their hacks to gussy up a frozen pizza and tips to make it from scratch. —Tejal Rao, New York Times, 12 Apr. 2024

Took several payments of $350,000—to gussy up China’s image in the West. —Michael Tomasky, The New Republic, 14 July 2023

For a condiment upgrade, gussy up a bottle of ketchup with tahini. —Joe Sevier, Bon Appétit, 14 June 2023

Want to gussy up the denim? —Jill Gleeson, Country Living, 23 June 2021

Landscape architecture is often be treated as an afterthought — a way to gussy up the place after a building is done. —Los Angeles Times, 20 May 2021

Chip and Joanna Gaines gussy up a boxed cake mix with yogurt, pudding mix and chocolate chips to make a showstopping sweet topped off with a homemade chocolate glaze. —Sabrina Weiss, Peoplemag, 13 Feb. 2023

But the teen-witch narrative that the film adopts is hard to gussy up, especially since after Hocus Pocus there was no shortage of such stories, from Halloweentown to Sabrina (and its reboot). —Lovia Gyarkye, The Hollywood Reporter, 29 Sep. 2022

Word History

Etymology

origin unknown

First Known Use

1906, in the meaning defined above