Dressed To The Nines Origin

Nine is the most troublesome number in etymology.

Dressed to the nines origin. Secondly dressed to the nines developed as an extension of the much earlier phrase to the nines meaning to perfection to the greatest degree. To be dressed to the nines is to be dressed flamboyantly or smartly. The phrase is said to be scots in origin.

To the nines is an english idiom meaning to perfection or to the highest degree or to dress buoyantly and high class. What s the origin of the phrase dressed up to the nines. Examples are cloud nine nine days wonder and the infamous whole nine yards.

The british lexicographer john stephen farmer 1854 1916 gave the most plausible explanation in his 1906 edition of the proverbs epigrams and miscellanies of john heywood. In modern english usage the phrase most commonly appears as dressed to the nines or dressed up to the nines. We can add dressed to the nines to that list.

Dressed up to the nines in a showy or recherché manner. According to the oxford english dictionary the first recorded instance of dressing to the nines was in the 1859 dictionary of slang by john camden hotten where it states. Still another clothing origin suggests that the phrase descends from the old english saying dressed to the eyes which because old english was weird was written as dressed to then eyne the.

To begin with the regiment s sartorial reputation seems to have dated from the 1850s while the first recorded use of the phrase is from 1837.