Origin of but Make It Fashion

Dressed to the nines

What's the meaning of the phrase 'Dressed upwardly to the nines'?

To exist 'dressed to the nines' is to be dressed flamboyantly or smartly.

What'due south the origin of the phrase 'Dressed up to the nines'?

9 is the nigh troublesome number in etymology. There are several phrases of uncertain parentage that include the word. Examples are, cloud nine, nine days' wonder and the infamous whole nine yards. We can add 'dressed to the nines' to that list.

The nigh ofttimes heard attempts to explain the phrase'south derivation involve associating the number nine with wearable in some manner.

One theory has it that tailors used ix yards of material to make a suit (or, according to some authors, a shirt). The more material you had the more kudos you accrued, although ix yards seems generous even for a fop.

Another commonly repeated explanation comes from the exquisitely smart uniforms of the 99th (Lanarkshire) Regiment of Foot, which was raised in 1824. The problem with these explanations is that they come with no evidence to support them, autonomously from a reference to the number nine (or 99, which seems to exist stretching the cloth rather thinly). The regiment was in business in the early on 19th century, which is at least the correct sort of engagement for a phrase that became widely used in the middle of that century.

The first example of the use of the phrase that I tin find in print is in Samuel Fallows' The Progressive Lexicon of the English Language, 1835. In his entry for the phrase 'to the nines' Fallows gives the example 'dressed upward to the nines' and suggests that it "may perhaps" be derived from 'to thine eynes' - to the eyes. Bully as a hypothesis, but without any evidence (and I can find none) 'may perhaps' is as far as we tin can go with that.

What counts against the above explanations, and indeed against whatsoever of the supposed explanations that endeavor to link the number nine to some belongings of article of clothing, is the prior employ of the shorter phrase 'to the nine' or 'to the nines'. This expression was used to indicate perfection, the highest standards and doesn't chronicle to clothing. That was in use in the 18th century, well before 'dressed to the nines' was start used, as in this example from William Hamilton'south Epistle to Ramsay, 1719:

The attractive Lines therein g sent me,
How to the nines they did content me.

It is worth noting that the number 9 has long been used as a elevation. The Nine Worthies were characters drawn from the Pagan and Jewish history and from the Bible. This distinguished group consisted of Hector, Alexander, Julius Caesar, Joshua, David, Judas Maccabaeus, King Arthur, Charlemagne, and Godfrey of Burgoo. These were well-known to medieval scholars as the personification of all that was noble and heroic.

Also, classical mythology has given u.s.a. the Nine Muses of Arts and Learning - Clio, Thalia, Erato, Euterpe, Polyhymnia, Calliope, Terpsichore, Urania and Melpomene.

The Poetick Miscellenies of Mr John Rawlett, 1687, provides the earliest reference to 'to the Nine' that I can find:

The learned tribe whose works the Earth practice bless,
Finish those works in some recess;
Both the Philosopher and Divine,
And Poets most who still make their address
In private to the Nine.

It seems clear that 'the Nine' that Rawlett was referring to were the Nine Muses. It is just as articulate that 'dressed to the nines' is merely an extension of 'to the nines' and that we could as well dance or pole-vault to the nines.

The search for the link between 'nines' and dress sense has unearthed no convincing candidates. Absence of testify isn't bear witness of absence, just I'll stick my neck out here and say, with this phrase and with the other 'nines' phrases, 'nine' doesn't refer to anything specific - it simply ways 'a lot'.

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