nine
- a cardinal number, eight plus one.
- a symbol for this number, as 9 or IX.
- a set of this many persons or things.
- a baseball team.
- a playing card with nine pips.
- the Nine, the Muses.
- amounting to nine in number.
- dressed to the nines, looking one's best; dressed smartly, splendidly, etc.: All the girls were dressed to the nines for the party.
Origin of nine
Examples from the Web for nine
Contemporary Examples
This was nine fewer than what he needed just two years ago when 426 members of the House voted.
The Via Dolorosa ends at the Church of the Holy Sepulchre, and is marked by nine stations of the cross.
Denied parole nine straight times, he insists he is innocent of the crime for which he was convicted.
If you answered nine or more, you may have won a SONY Betamax and an eight-track operating system.
Nine new Republican senators will swear their oaths of office.
Historical Examples
After following Lake Barlee for nine miles, it turned to the southward.
Explorations in AustraliaJohn Forrest
By half-past nine on the morning of the 18th we had made a fair start.
Explorations in AustraliaJohn Forrest
It was after nine o'clock and there were few persons passing.
Grace Harlowe's Return to Overton CampusJessie Graham Flower
Punctually at nine o'clock on Monday morning, George was at the office.
Life in LondonEdwin Hodder
When, at last, he rose and picked up his cap; it was nine o'clock.
KMary Roberts Rinehart
nine
- the cardinal number that is the sum of one and eightSee also number (def. 1)
- a numeral, 9, IX, etc, representing this number
- something representing, represented by, or consisting of nine units, such as a playing card with nine symbols on it
- Also: nine o'clock nine hours after noon or midnightthe play starts at nine
- dressed to the nines or dressed up to the nines informal elaborately dressed
- 999 (in Britain) the telephone number of the emergency services
- nine to five normal office hourshe works nine to five; a nine-to-five job
- amounting to ninenine days
- (as pronoun)nine of the ten are ready
Word Origin
Word Origin and History for nine
n.
Old English nigen, from Proto-Germanic *niwun (cf. Old Saxon nigun, Old Frisian niugun, Old Norse niu, Swedish nio, Middle Dutch neghen, Dutch negen, Old High German niun, German neun, Gothic niun "nine"), from PIE newn "nine" (cf. Sanskrit nava, Avestan nava, Greek ennea, Albanian nende, Latin novem (with change of -n- to -m- by analogy of septem, decem), Lithuanian devnyi, Old Church Slavonic deveti (the Balto-Slavic forms by dissimilation of -n- to -d-), Old Irish noin, Welsh naw).
Nine to five "the average workday" is attested from 1935. Nine days has been proverbial since 14c. for the time which a wonder or novelty holds attention.
Idioms and Phrases with nine
nine
see dressed to kill (to the nines); on cloud nine; possession is nine points of the law; whole nine yards.