dress up vs clothe

dress up and clothe both are verbs.

Word	Noun	Adjective	Verb	Adverb
dress up	No	No	Yes	No
clothe	No	No	Yes	No

As verbs, clothe is a hypernym of dress up; that is, clothe is a word with a broader meaning than dress up:

Other hypernyms of dress up include apparel, dress, enclothe, fit out, garb, garment, habilitate, raiment, tog.

dress up (verb)	clothe (verb)
put on special clothes to appear particularly appealing and attractive	provide with clothes or put clothes on
dress in a costume	cover as if with clothing
dress in a certain manner	furnish with power or authority; of kings or emperors
make something appear superficially attractive
put a caparison on