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Why do we say "Dressed to the Nines"?
This phrase that compliments someone who is perfectly put together can be traced back to a Scottish saying and perhaps Middle Ages bowling
"Dressed to the Nines" means someone is going all out with their outfit and often in the form of elaborate or lavish clothing. The phrase is believed to come from the Scottish saying "to the nines" -- meaning "to perfection" -- often used to describe impeccably performed actions. At first, there was no inherent connection with clothing as people used "to the nines" in a variety of circumstances.
While the phrase is most likely Scottish, how it got to Scotland is unclear. One prevailing theory relates to nine-pin bowling, a popular game likely invented in the Middle Ages. Knocking over all nine pins with a single ball is a perfect throw, and the Dictionaries of the Scots Language speculates the phrase could be derived from that game's rules.
According to the Oxford English Dictionary, the first published use of the saying came in a 1719 poem Epistle to Ramsay by William Hamilton: "The bonny lines therein thou sent me, how to the nines they did content me."
This exact phrasing appeared in 1837 in The New York Herald: "One evening a smart young mechanic, 'dressed to the nines,'...might have been seen wending his way along Broadway."
Today, "to the nines" commonly describes a situation where someone has gone all out, clothing-related or otherwise. Someone in a Tux is "dressed to the nines," or a lavish wedding venue can be "decorated to the nines," and a layered wedding cake may be "stacked to the nines." Essentially, "to the nines" is a synonym for "to the Nth degree," and you can use it as such.
We'll see you at our Burns Supper
"Dressed to the Nines!"
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