According to the Oxford English Dictionary, the first recorded instance of dressing to
the nines was in the 1859 Dictionary of Slang, by John Camden Hotten where it states: “‘dressed
up to the nines’, in a showy or recherché manner.”
However, there is at least one earlier documented instance, which seems to imply the expression
was common several decades before 1859.
This can be found in The Progressive Dictionary of the English Language published in 1835.
Under the definition for “Nine” it states:
To the nines, to perfection; generally applied to dress, and sometimes implying excess in
dressing… he or she was dressed up to the nines.
As you might have gathered from this, it appears “to the nines” was around before it was
associated with clothing.
For instance, over a century before the first documented reference of “dressed to the
nines,” we have the Epistle to Ramsay by William Hamilton (1719), where he stated,
The bonny Lines therin thou sent me, How to the nines they did content me.
From this, we can see how one would come up with the expression “dressed to the nines”
from the existing expression more or less meaning “perfect.”
Further, we can safely discount such often put forth conjectures that the expression
“dressed to the nines” came from tailors using nine yards of material to make a finely
crafted suit of clothing (which is also often put forth as the origin of “the whole nine
yards,” which we cover the origin of in full here.)
That’s not to mention the fact that that is an insane amount of material for just one
suit.
Yet another commonly put forth explanation we can then safely ignore is that it came
from the 99th Wiltshire Regiment.
Around the mid-19th century, this regiment became known as “The Nines” and were particularly
noted for their perfect uniform and dress.
In this case, both “dressed to the nines” and “to the nines” were around long before
this regiment earned this reputation.
So it’s likely they got this nickname because of the already existing expression, rather
than inspiring it.
So the real question is where did “to the nines” come from?
We know from various documented references that this goes back to at least the early
18th century, with most of the earliest uses being in Scottish works such as the above
quoted Epistle to Ramsay by William Hamilton, and several decades later in Poem on Pastoral
Poetry by Robert Burns (who is also partially responsible for “Auld Lang Syne“):
Thou paints auld nature to the nines, In thy sweet Caledonian lines…
Note he is describing how perfectly one illustrates in writing.
It’s possible that “to the nines” is referencing the Nine Muses of Arts and Learning
(Clio, Erato, Calliope, Melpomene, Euterpe, Polyhymnia, Terpsichore, Urania, and Thalia).
There are several documented instances of “those old nine which rhymers invocate”
(1600 Shakes.
Sonn. xxxviii), or “the sacred wealth of all the Nine” (1635 F. Quarles Emblemes
v. iii.), or in the 1687 work The Poetick Miscellenies of Mr. John Rawlett (among others):
The learned tribe whose works the World do 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.
Thus, in this origin theory “to the nines” is so perfect it would be worthy of, or directly
inspired by, the Nine Muses.
Besides Robert Burns using “to the nines” referencing writing, in the aforementioned
1719 work, the Epistle to Ramsay by William Hamilton, this also has “Nine Muses” connotations,
again referencing someone’s well-crafted writing: “The bonny Lines therin thou sent
me, How to the nines they did content me.”
The Nine Muses had been for some time commonly referenced by poets with regards to writing.
So perhaps these two earliest documented references of “to the nines,” in both cases referring
to artful writing, hints that the expression originally did indeed derive from referencing
the Nine Muses.
In yet another theory proposed by etymologists, “to the nines” is thought to be originally
simply a slurred way of saying “to then anes,” meaning “for the one (occasion)”
or “for the one (purpose),” and it simply evolved
from there.