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To the nines" is an idiom meaning "to perfection" or "to the highest degree". In modern English usage, the phrase most commonly appears as "dressed to the nines" or "dressed up to the nines". Origin. The phrase is said to be Scots in origin.
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- Example Sentences
- Origin
to perfectionlooking elegant, smart, or flashyto a high degreeto a great extentThe masked ball was excellent. You should have seen the costumes. Everyone was dressed to the nines.Go out and buy yourself a new outfit for Friday night. Everyone will be dressed to the nines, so we’d better look smart.They were all done up to the nines, and there I was in my mother’s old ball gown.Stella hated getting all done up to the nines. She was much happier in jeans and a jogging top.It seems that the expression is originally related to the Nine Worthies or the nine Muses. The current day informal English idiom dressed to the nines seems to have started out in life as simply to the nines. Meaning ‘to perfection,’ it made its first entry in the Oxford dictionary in this form in the early 1700s and seemed to have come from Scotla...
To be ‘dressed to the nines’ is to be dressed flamboyantly or smartly. What's the origin of the phrase 'Dressed up to the nines'? – the quick version. The origin of the phrase “dressed to the nines” is uncertain.
Apr 8, 2013 · “The nines” we invoke when talking about a snappy dresser might mean any one of these groups, or something else, but a definitive answer is elusive.
to the nines. To the greatest degree or extent; to a point of perfection. (Especially in the phrase "dressed (up) to the nines.") I know it takes me a long time getting ready, but nothing feels better than being dressed to the nines for a night out on the town.
To the nines definition: . See examples of TO THE NINES used in a sentence.
Synonyms for TO THE NINES: perfectly, immaculately, exceptionally, ideally, to a nicety, specially, finely, excellently; Antonyms of TO THE NINES: badly, imperfectly, amiss, defectively, inadequately, insufficiently, incompletely, faultily.
