"
Dressing down" or "dressing-down" is an English-language
idiom
An idiom is a phrase or expression that typically presents a figurative, non-literal meaning attached to the phrase; but some phrases become figurative idioms while retaining the literal meaning of the phrase. Categorized as formulaic language, ...
that may refer to:
* An especially severe,
highly formalized, and often public form of military discipline incident to
reduction in rank or, in extreme cases, complete dismissal via the ceremony of
degradation (also termed "
cashiering," especially when performed upon an officer): To amplify the already-severe punishment inherent in a reduction in rank, the authorities imposing it may confirm it in a ceremony whose form is analogous to that of a promotion ceremony in that its participants remove the uniform's existing rank insignia and replace that insignia with the insignia of the soldier's new, lesser/lower rank; the degradation/cashiering ceremony has traditionally involved stripping both rank insignia and all other military insignia from the uniform.
** By
metonymy
Metonymy () is a figure of speech in which a concept is referred to by the name of something closely associated with that thing or concept.
Etymology
The words ''metonymy'' and ''metonym'' come from grc, μετωνυμία, 'a change of name' ...
from the associated ceremony, the reduction in rank itself.
** Any act of severely reprimanding or scolding someone.
* The wearing of clothes socially regarded as being appropriate for only events
less formal than the occasion at which one is wearing them (contrast antonym "dress
ngup" from which this usage of the idiom is derived by alteration)
** "Dress-down day" (more commonly "
casual day"), a workday during which the managers of a business formally relax its dress code for the day, usually to a specified degree and pursuant to an announcement made far enough in advance that employees can plan accordingly
**When managers schedule such relaxations at regular intervals as part of the dress code itself, rather than an authorized departure from it, workdays featuring them are widely known as "dress-down
or "casual
" where X is the recurring occasion (''e.g.'', a given weekday, as in "
casual Friday
Casual Friday (also known as dress-down Friday or casual day) is a Western dress code trend in which businesses relax their dress code on Fridays. Businesses that usually require employees to wear suits, dress shirts, neckties, and dress shoes ...
") with which the relaxation is associated.
See also
;Military:
*
Reduction in rank
:*
Military degradation
;Social/corporate:
*
Casual day
:*
Casual Friday(s)
;In literature and popular culture
*
Rudyard Kipling's poem ''
Danny Deever'', whose title figure is subjected to the British version of the military degradation ceremony before being executed for the homicide of a fellow soldier
References
{{Reflist
English-language idioms