Definition of "full dress" []

• Attire appropriate for formal or ceremonial events. (noun)

American Heritage(R) Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition. Copyright (c) 2011 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

• "She looked up gratefully, and at the other end of the arm was Hot-and-Heavy Herb, in full dress uniform."
• "Dining with Count Plater the Viceroy of Norway, at 3 P.M., he met forty people, all the Ministers of State and great officers in full dress with their 'orders' on; also three peasant Labour Candidates in the costume of their country, being Members of the Storthing."
• "It may be added that he always cherished the memory of the distinguished admiral under whom he served on this occasion, and that in later years he purchased from Sir William Beechy's studio a portrait of Lord Exmouth on his quarter-deck at Algiers, in full dress and orders as the naval fashion then was, which hung on the great staircase at Wimpole."