adonise

1. (transitive) To embellish or adorn, especially in order to improve the appearance of.Examples: "Delighted with each other......we rambled....arm in arm......about the citron groves;.......and, when a mossy bank invited our repose...my charmer would weave garlands of flowers to adonise her shepherd ; ..........recline upon my arm..... and to the gentle lullaby of a murmuring stream..... sink into forgetfulness"; "Formerly, if not exactly to the same extent at the present day, mineral substances were only made use of to adonise the complexion ; indeed, every composition is qualified with this name, whether it be white or red, which women, and even men (coxcombs), with a clear skin, subserve to embellish their faces, with a view to imitate the colours of youth, or artificially to repair the absence of them."; "Of all the looming Negroes that Lincoln could have brought into the White House to adonise his cause, Johnson had been his choice, with the scuttling train of a monitor lizard."transitive

2. (intransitive) To enhance one's own appearance.Examples: "Leaving a breath to swell his tradesmen's books, To adonise, to smile, and kill with looks;"; "Since I parted with Darnley, who went in to adonise, I believe, Cameron has been hindering me with acknowledgments and regrets."; "Whenever I find myself growing vapourish, I rouse myself, wash, and put on a clean shirt, brush my hair and clothes, tie my shoestrings neatly, and in fact adonise as I were going out."intransitive