Dressed to the nines

Origin of: Dressed to the nines

Dressed to the nines

To the nines is first attested in 1793 in a poem by Robert Burns where it means to perfection. There is a hint of this meaning in dressed to the nines, which means dressed flamboyantly or very smartly and dates from the early 19th century. As with many ‘nine’ expressions e.g. the whole nine yards, cloud nine etc, the exact connection to the number nine remains obscure. All of them, however, retain some sense of nine as a superlative, implying perfection. Nine, as three times three, has long had mystical connotations. That is why there are nine Muses and why a novena is nine days of prayer etc. In addition, any number multiplied by nine, adding up the digits always brings the aggregate back to nine. Thus, this mystical fascination with nine remains ongoing since time immemorial.