the number 9, or the quantity represented by it
something having nine parts or members
the age of 9 years
the hour three hours before midday or midnight
dressed to/up to the nines
informal dressed very smartly or elaborately
[To the nine (s) originally had the more general meaning ‘to perfection’, first used by Burns in Pastoral Poetry in the 1790s (‘Thou paints auld Nature to the nines’). It was first used with the specific application to dress in the 1850s. Association with the smart dress of a British army regiment called the 99th Foot Soldiers is not supported by historical evidence. The philologist Walter Skeat ingeniously suggested an origin in dressed up to the neyen (= eyes, also a variant of nine)’.]nine adj
ninefold adj and adv
[Old English nigon]