Dress
Middle English (in the sense ‘put straight’): from Old French dresser ‘arrange, prepare’, based on Latin directus ‘direct, straight’.
wiktionary
From Middle English dressen, from Old French dresser, drescer, drecier(“to erect, set up, arrange, dress”), from Medieval Latin *directiō, an assumed frequentative, from Latin directus(“straight, direct”), perfect passive participle of dīrigō(“straighten, direct”), from dis-(“asunder, in pieces, apart, in two”) + regō(“make straight, rule”). See direct.
etymonline
dress (v.)
c. 1300, "make straight; direct, guide, control; prepare for cooking," from Old French dresser, drecier "raise (oneself); address, prepare; lift, raise, hoist; set up, arrange, set (a table), serve (food); straighten, put right, direct," from Vulgar Latin *directiare "make straight," from Latin directus "direct, straight," past participle of dirigere "set straight," from dis- "apart" (see dis-) + regere "to direct, to guide, keep straight" (from PIE root *reg- "move in a straight line").
Sense of "decorate, adorn" is from late 14c., as is that of "put on clothing." The older sense survives in military dress ranks "align columns of troops." Of males, in reference to the position of the sex organ in trousers, by 1961.
Dress up "attire elaborately, put on one's best clothing" is from 1670s; dress down "wear clothes less formal than expected" is by 1960. Transitive use of dress (someone) down, "scold, reprimand," is by 1876, earlier simply dress (1769), in which the sense is ironical. In Middle English, dress up meant "get up" and dress down meant "to kneel." Related: Dressed; dressing.
dress (n.)
c. 1600, "a garment or assemblage of garments," originally any clothing, especially that appropriate to rank or to some ceremony; the specific sense of "woman's garment consisting of a skirt and waist" is recorded by 1630s, with overtones of "made not merely to clothe but to adorn." Dress rehearsal first recorded 1828.
