Liberal Dictionary English Dictionary
noun
- a female given name, form of Augusta.
verb (used with object), gus·sied, gus·sy·ing.
- to enhance the attractiveness of in a gimmicky, showy manner (usually followed by up): a room gussied up with mirrors and lights.
verb (used without object), gus·sied, gus·sy·ing.
- to dress in one’s best clothes (usually followed by up): to gussy up for the ball.
“to dress up or decorate in a showy way,” 1952, American English slang, apparently from Gussy (1940), schoolyard slang name for an overly dressed person, perhaps related to gussie (1901) “effeminate man,” and somehow connected to the nickname for Augusta and Augustus.