2007-06-19 17:23:37 · 9 answers · asked by David W 1 in Education & Reference ➔ Words & Wordplay
if you're dressed really nice and expensive..used to describe attorney's, government officials, etc
2007-06-19 17:27:53 · answer #1 · answered by Nickeypooh 2 · 0⤊ 0⤋
The phrase to the nines means perfection. Today, it appears almost exclusively in the form dressed to the nines, but it has not always been paired with dressed and does not exclusively relate to sartorial perfection and the various explanations that discuss nine items of clothing are incorrect. The most likely explanation for the phrase is that nine, in some numerological systems, connotes perfection.
From a 1719 letter from a W. Hamilton to one Ramsay:
How to the nines they did content me.
Two lines from Robert Burns, both penned before 1796, use the phrase:
‘Twad please me to the Nine.
And:
Thou paints auld nature to the nines.
The form with dressed appears in the latter half of the 19th century. From Thomas Hardy’s 1876 The Hand of Ethelberta:
When she’s dressed up to the nines for some grand party.
It is sometimes said that the nine in the phrase is a corruption of eyne, the Old English word for eyes. But the phrase appears too late for this to be likely.
(Source: Oxford English Dictionary, New Edition)
2007-06-19 17:27:56 · answer #2 · answered by ? 2 · 1⤊ 0⤋
Dressed to the nines, means you are wearing your best clothes. Maybe you are going out on a date and you look very nice in your outfit.
2007-06-23 05:18:32 · answer #3 · answered by alirob66 2 · 0⤊ 0⤋
It means your are stepping up in the way you dress, for instance when you go to the prom, people usually dress to the nines. It is a very old term, actully one my great grandma used to say all the time when she liked the way we looked.
2007-06-19 17:29:07 · answer #4 · answered by marlee6996 2 · 0⤊ 0⤋
It means dressed up very formaly. Like in a suit and tie. Something you would see people wear in court or at a wedding.
2007-06-19 18:08:38 · answer #5 · answered by Waiting For Baby #1 2 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Do you mean the origin of the expression? It had to do with the fabric that was reserved for special occassions.
2007-06-19 17:38:35 · answer #6 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋
fancy clothes, fur coats and lots of Bling
2007-06-19 17:54:18 · answer #7 · answered by Miss Understood 7 · 0⤊ 0⤋
formal wear---tux for guys, gowns for gals!Don't forget the bling!
2007-06-19 17:28:47 · answer #8 · answered by kim 7 · 0⤊ 0⤋
This here will tell you nicely
http://ask.yahoo.com/20031022.html
2007-06-19 17:29:38 · answer #9 · answered by imagined_dreamer 2 · 0⤊ 0⤋