Dressed To The Nines (Meaning & Origin!)

To be “dressed to the nines” means to be dressed up to perfection. It’s used when someone has gone all out in dressing up for an event, or indeed just for staying at home or whatever they are doing. “To the nines” is a broader idiom which means to perfection or the highest degree.

This idiom is a very common expression in many English speaking countries today, and it’s thought to be Scots in origin.

It has spread to America, Australia and elsewhere today, and is likely to be understood by just about everyone in the English speaking world.

Let’s find out more.

What does “dressed to the nines” mean?

To be “dressed to the nines” means that you are dressed up as best as you could possibly be, to the highest possible standard.

It’s the kind of thing you would say to someone when they were going to a fancy event, a big party or any other kind of place in which they would want to get as dressed up as they possibly could.

Think of a red carpet event packed with movie stars, for example.

They would all be wearing fancy, expensive dresses; they would have their hair done professionally as well as their makeup.

That’s perhaps one of the most important takeaways.

Being “dressed to the nines” doesn’t just refer to someone’s clothes.

It’s about their whole look and how much effort they have gone to in order to get ready.

Equally, though, it can be used for a person of any gender.

Men, typically, just need to comb their hair and get a tuxedo on in order to be “dressed to the nines”.

So, in that sense, the phrase is relative.

“Dressed to the nines” is most likely the most common way that people hear this idiom used.

But as I mentioned, the idiom itself is much broader and can relate to anything—not just to someone’s clothing or appearance.

“To the nines”, in any context, just means to the highest possible standard or degree.

It means someone is doing anything to the greatest extent they can.

So, there are a number of ways in which this phrase can be used.

However, again, to be “dressed to the nines” specifically does refer to how someone is dressed and their overall appearance.

Where does this idiom come from, then?

Where does “dressed to the nines” come from?

Firstly, let’s consider the phrase “to the nines” in itself, as this does predate the term “dressed to the Nines” by some way.

It’s thought to be Scots in origin, and the earliest written example we have of the term comes from the 1719 Epistle to Ramsay, a poem by Scottish poet William Hamilton: “The bonny lines therein thou sent me,/ How to the nines they did content me”.

Robert Burns later used the phrase in a collection published in 1791: “Thou paints auld nature to the nines”.

So, it’s quite clear that it was first used in Scots English, though how far it predates these two examples we cannot say for sure.

One possible origin of the phrase is a corruption of “then eyne”, which means “to the eyes” in Old Scots English.

That is, something is of the highest possible standard “to my eyes”.

Others think it may be associated with the Nine Worthies or the nine Muses.

The Worthies are a medieval tradition of legendary men embodying the values and ideals of chivalry.

Thus, to be up to their standards would be up to the standards of perfection.

The Muses, on the other hand, come to us out of Greek mythology, considered the source of knowledge which is embodied in poetry and lyric songs.

Ultimately, we don’t know for sure, and unfortunately never will unless some older source comes to light.

I mentioned that this phrase is an “idiom”—so what exactly is an idiom?

What is an idiom?

An idiom is typically a phrase or common expression which presents a non-literal meaning attached to the phrase.

Some phrases, however, do become idioms while holding on to a more literal meaning.

There are an estimated 25 million idiomatic expressions in English, to put their role in the language into perspective.

Idioms are often literal at first and over time transcend their original use to become figurative expressions. “To the nines” is a figurative expression today, especially since we aren’t entirely sure what the origin of the phrase was.

If the origin was “to my eyes” then it would have been literal—were it related to the Nine Worthies or Muses, it would have always been figurative.

How do you use dressed to the nines?

To use dressed to the nines you simply need to think about a situation in which people are getting as dressed up as they possibly could. “You look nice, dressed to the nines!” for example.

It’s really that simple.

All you’re doing is saying that someone is dressed very nicely, and the idiom could stand in directly for that same expression.

This is a fascinating and historical idiom, then, that has gone through a number of changes over the centuries.

Many tend to associate it with the 20^th Century and particularly with America, but in fact it has its origins in a much older part of the English speaking world. Even still, as much as we know about it, we can still only theorize about its true origin.

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