Where does the phrase "dressed to the nines" come from?

Question

I know what this saying means, but I've yet to met anyone who knew or understood the origin of this statement. Why not dressed to the tens?

Answer 1

Like many other Ask Yahoo! questions related to word and phrase origins, there's no clear answer to your question.

Defined loosely as "all spiffed up" in formal clothing, the phrase "dressing to the nines" may have come from the sharply dressed British Army's 99th Regiment of Foot back in the 1850s. Only problem with that theory is the phrase first appears back in 1793 in the poetry of Robert Burns.

Some speculate it's a reference to the nine Muses of Greek mythology, while others theorize that because nine is the highest single-digit number, it symbolizes the best or perfection. Still others speculate the saying is related to the nine yards of fabric needed to make a suit.

We should just file this one in our "Unsolved" file next to the other number-nine stumper, "the whole nine yards."

Answer 2

This expression is, according to the complete Oxford English Dictionary, recorded from 1793 in the poetry of Robert Burns: 'Thou paints auld Nature to the nines', it is recorded in a slang dictionary published in 1859. Slang is always difficult to pin down, and old slang is almost impossible. There are many expressions connected with the number nine, including 'nine days' wonder'.

http://www.askoxford.com/asktheexperts/faq/aboutwordorigins/nines

Answer 3

It comes from the same place that gave us "the whole nine yards." Meaning the traditional amount of cloth in a tailor's bolt. Come to mean: take it all; go for it all; go all the way; be extravagant. IMHO

Answer 4

There are multiple theories. Here are some:
http://www.worldwidewords.org/qa/qa-nin1.htm

Answer 5

r u talkin bout "A STITCH IN TIME SAVES NINE"