dressed to the nines
- idiom
- Informal
:
vestido elegantemente
- Everyone at the charity event was dressed to the nines, showcasing their finest outfits.
Examples
-
For his wedding, he made sure he was dressed to the nines in a perfectly tailored suit.
-
I was all femmed up, and she was all butched out, dapper and dressed to the nines.
Blog text (13) -
She arrived at the gala dressed to the nines, wearing a stunning gown that turned heads.
Synonyms
85
2.0
Clothes or rooms that look fashionable and attractive
82
2.7
Wearing special formal clothes for a party or event
29
2.4
Wearing neat, clean clothes that look smart, like a suit or nice shirt
22
4.1
Dressed neatly and looking smart for a special event
12
3.6
Suitable for formal events like a wedding or party
1
5.4
Wearing special or formal clothes
1
5.6
Wearing smart, attractive clothes so other people notice you
1
6.8
Wearing very attractive, stylish clothes to get people's attention
1
6.3
Dressed in smart, formal clothes for a special event
Very fashionable and neatly dressed
Wearing stylish, elegant clothes
To wear nice clothes for a special event
Wearing smart clothes for a special event
Dressed or acting in a showy, very fashionable way
A person who wears smart, fashionable clothes like a stylish city person
Wearing fine clothes for a special event
Antonyms
How Elegant
Surface Forms
Morphology
dressed + to + the + nines
The meaning 'wearing extremely elegant clothes' is not derivable from the literal constituents: 'nines' as used here is an idiomatic intensifier, so knowing 'dressed' and the number nine does not allow a learner to predict the overall sense. This is a historically opaque, language-specific idiom rather than a transparent compositional phrase.
Etymology
Dressed to the nines may come from the idea that nines meant 'to the highest degree'. People imagined clothes finished with great care, so to be dressed to the nines is to be dressed 'very smartly' for a special event.