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Word Origins

What is the origin of the term 'dressed to the nines'?

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This expression is, according to the complete Oxford English Dictionary, recorded from 1793 in the poetry of Robert Burns: 'Thou paints auld Nature to the nines', it is recorded in a slang dictionary published in 1859. Slang is always difficult to pin down, and old slang is almost impossible. There are many expressions connected with the number nine, including 'nine days' wonder'.

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