dress down

verb

Etymology: From analogy with dress up.

1. To scold.

   “One night – it was 2.30am – he dressed down a graduate, screaming in her face: “Are you stupid? Are you a fucking stupid cunt?” I had never seen anything like it in a workplace, or on TV, and I haven’t since.”

   “Mark Zuckerberg, Jeff Bezos and other tech luminaries have all been dressed down on Capitol Hill by lawmakers upset with their companies.”

2. To wear casual or informal clothes.
3. To prepare (caught fish) by gutting them, removing the heads and backbones, etc.

   “Dan could bait up trawl or lay his hand on any rope in the dark; and at a pinch, when Uncle Salters had a gurry-sore on his palm, could dress down by sense of touch.”