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Dressed to the nines

Posted by Rich Ball on September 16, 2000

In Reply to: Dressed to the nines posted by Charles Hurt on December 28, 1999

Dressed to the Nines:
According to a friend who worries about such things the phrase derives from maritime lore. An English fighting ship, a ship of the line, during the period of England's greatest naval supremacy had three masts, each with three sails. The square rigged sails were hung from yard arms that sailors worked from one end to the other in handling the sails. When a ship returned to port and was on review it would show its most impressive dress. Sailors would all find postions on the yard arms, occupying all nine yards from one end to the other. Such a ship was "dressed to the nines" and it would have been an impressive sight indeed.

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