dresser

One of French's true multi-purpose verbs: to train an animal (dresser un chien), to draw up a document (dresser un constat, une liste), and to erect or pitch something (dresser une tente, une statue) — three genuinely distinct everyday meanings.

• Elle dresse son chien à ne pas aboyer. — She's training her dog not to bark.
• L'agent a dressé un procès-verbal. — The officer drew up a ticket.
• Ils ont dressé la tente avant la tombée de la nuit. — They pitched the tent before nightfall.

Dresser un procès-verbal/un constat (the official-document sense) is common in administrative and legal French but rarely taught early, so learners often only recognize the animal-training meaning and miss it in news or bureaucratic contexts.

• expression Dresser l'oreille — A fixed idiom for listening closely, drawn from the image of an alert animal pricking up its ears — attested in French literature since at least the 19th century.