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definitions

nine

[nahyn]
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noun

adjective

amounting to nine in number.

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RELATED WORDS

nonagon, ninth, ennead

Nearby words

  1. nimzowitsch,
  2. nin,
  3. nin, anaïs,
  4. nina,
  5. nincompoop,
  6. nine ball,
  7. nine days' wonder,
  8. nine plus two array,
  9. nine plus zero array,
  10. nine worthies

Idioms

    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

before 900; Middle English; Old English nigan, nigon, cognate with Dutch negen, akin to German neun, Old Norse nīu, Gothic niun, Latin novem, Greek ennéa, Sanskrit náva
Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2019

Examples from the Web for nine

British Dictionary definitions for nine

nine

noun

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

determiner

  1. amounting to ninenine days
  2. (as pronoun)nine of the ten are ready
Related formsRelated prefix: nona-

Word Origin for nine

Old English nigon; related to Gothic niun, Latin novem
Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012
Word Origin and History for nine

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.

Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2010 Douglas Harper
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.

The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary Copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.