v. t. [ imp. & p. p. Addressed p. pr. & vb. n. Addressing. ] [ OE. adressen to raise erect, adorn, OF. adrecier, to straighten, address, F. adresser, fr. à (L. ad) + OF. drecier, F. dresser, to straighten, arrange. See Dress, v. ] 1. To aim; to direct. [ Obs. ] Chaucer. [ 1913 Webster ]

And this good knight his way with me addrest. Spenser. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. To prepare or make ready. [ Obs. ] [ 1913 Webster ]

His foe was soon addressed. Spenser. [ 1913 Webster ]

Turnus addressed his men to single fight. Dryden. [ 1913 Webster ]

The five foolish virgins addressed themselves at the noise of the bridegroom's coming. Jer. Taylor. [ 1913 Webster ]

3. Reflexively: To prepare one's self; to apply one's skill or energies (to some object); to betake. [ 1913 Webster ]

These men addressed themselves to the task. Macaulay. [ 1913 Webster ]

4. To clothe or array; to dress. [ Archaic ] [ 1913 Webster ]

Tecla . . . addressed herself in man's apparel. Jewel. [ 1913 Webster ]

5. To direct, as words (to any one or any thing); to make, as a speech, petition, etc. (to any one, an audience). [ 1913 Webster ]

The young hero had addressed his players to him for his assistance. Dryden. [ 1913 Webster ]

6. To direct speech to; to make a communication to, whether spoken or written; to apply to by words, as by a speech, petition, etc., to speak to; to accost. [ 1913 Webster ]

Are not your orders to address the senate? Addison. [ 1913 Webster ]

The representatives of the nation addressed the king. Swift. [ 1913 Webster ]

7. To direct in writing, as a letter; to superscribe, or to direct and transmit; as, he addressed a letter. [ 1913 Webster ]

8. To make suit to as a lover; to court; to woo. [ 1913 Webster ]

9. (Com.) To consign or intrust to the care of another, as agent or factor; as, the ship was addressed to a merchant in Baltimore. [ 1913 Webster ]

To address one's self to. (a) To prepare one's self for; to apply one's self to. (b) To direct one's speech or discourse to. --
To address the ball (Golf), to take aim at the ball, adjusting the grip on the club, the attitude of the body, etc., to a convenient position. [ Webster 1913 Suppl. 1913 Webster ]

v. i. 1. To prepare one's self. [ Obs. ] “Let us address to tend on Hector's heels.” Shak. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. To direct speech. [ Obs. ] [ 1913 Webster ]

Young Turnus to the beauteous maid addrest. Dryden. [ 1913 Webster ]

☞ The intransitive uses come from the dropping out of the reflexive pronoun. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. [ Cf. F. adresse. See Address, v. t. ] [ 1913 Webster ]

1. Act of preparing one's self. [ Obs. ] Jer Taylor. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. Act of addressing one's self to a person; verbal application. [ 1913 Webster ]

3. A formal communication, either written or spoken; a discourse; a speech; a formal application to any one; a petition; a formal statement on some subject or special occasion; as, an address of thanks, an address to the voters. [ 1913 Webster ]

4. Direction or superscription of a letter, or the name, title, and place of residence of the person addressed. [ 1913 Webster ]

5. Manner of speaking to another; delivery; as, a man of pleasing or insinuating address. [ 1913 Webster ]

6. Attention in the way one's addresses to a lady. Addison. [ 1913 Webster ]

7. Skill; skillful management; dexterity; adroitness. [ 1913 Webster ]

Syn. -- Speech; discourse; harangue; oration; petition; lecture; readiness; ingenuity; tact; adroitness. [ 1913 Webster ]

adj. 1. marked with a destination; -- of mail [ Narrower terms: self-addressed ] unaddressed [ WordNet 1.5 ]

n. One to whom anything is addressed. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. The act of addressing or directing one's course. [ Rare & Obs. ] Chapman. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. 1. a printer that automatically prints addresses on letters for mailing.
Syn. -- addressing machine [ WordNet 1.5 ]

prop. n. The popular name of a speech given by Abraham Lincoln on November 19, 1863, on the battlefield near Gettysburg, Pennsylvania, USA, as part of a ceremony to dedicate a portion of that battlefield as a cemetary for soldiers who died fighting there. See note below. [ PJC ]

☞ Lincoln's Gettysburg Address,

Four score and seven years ago, our fathers brought forth upon this continent a new nation: conceived in liberty, and dedicated to the proposition that all men are created equal.

Now we are engaged in a great civil war, testing whether that nation, or any nation so conceived and so dedicated can long endure. We are met on a great battlefield of that war. We have come to dedicate a portion of that field as a final resting place for those who here gave their lives that that nation might live. It is altogether fitting and proper that we should do this.

But, in a larger sense, we cannot dedicate -- we cannot consecrate -- we cannot hallow -- this ground. The brave men, living and dead, who struggled here have consecrated it, far above our poor power to add or detract. The world will little note, nor long remember, what we say here, but it can never forget what they did here. It is for us the living, rather, to be dedicated here to the unfinished work which they who fought here have thus far so nobly advanced. It is rather for us to be here dedicated to the great task remaining before us -- that from these honored dead we take increased devotion to that cause for which they gave the last full measure of devotion -- that we here highly resolve that these dead shall not have died in vain -- that this nation, under God, shall have a new birth of freedom -- and that government of the people, by the people, for the people, shall not perish from this earth.

n. 1. A covering or ornament for the head; a headtire; as, chiefs among the plains Indians had elaborate long headdresses with many feathers. [ 1913 Webster ]

Among birds the males very often appear in a most beautiful headdress, whether it be a crest, a comb, a tuft of feathers, or a natural little plume. Addison. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. A manner of dressing the hair or of adorning it, whether with or without a veil, ribbons, combs, etc. [ 1913 Webster ]

‖n.; pl. -drosten /plu>. Sometimes incorrectly . [ D., fr. land land + drost a kind of official; akin to G. truchsess. ] (In South Africa) (a) A chief magistrate in rural districts. He was replaced in 1827 by “resident magistrates.” (b) The president of the Heemraad. [ Webster 1913 Suppl. ]

n. The postal address where a maile can be addressed to a person or organization. [ WordNet 1.5 +PJC ]

n. [ Mal- + address. ] Bad address; an awkward, tactless, or offensive way of accosting one or talking with one. W. D. Howells. [ 1913 Webster ]

v. t. To address a second time; -- often used reflexively. [ 1913 Webster ]

He readdressed himself to her. Boyle. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. (Zool.) A sheldrake. [ 1913 Webster ]