Green’s Dictionary of Slang

1. to the highest degree, to perfection, wholly; usu. as dressed (up) to the nines phr.

1787		Burns in Works (1843) I 87/1: By me should gratefully be ware; / ’Twad please me to the nine .
1792		Burns Poem on Pastoral Poetry in Works (1842) 110/1: Thou paints auld nature to the nines, In thy sweet Caledonian lines.
1812		Vaux Vocab. of the Flash Lang. in McLachlan (1964) 275: to the nines; or, to the ruffian These terms are synonymous, and imply an extreme of any kind, or the superlative degree.
1826		Vulgarities of Speech Corrected n.p.: Done to the Nines, Done excellently or correctly.
1835		Metropolitan Mag. XIV Sept. 333: This was the first and last time I was a tinny-hunterbut it came just in time to tog me out to the nines.
1836		T. Haliburton Clockmaker I 218: I can take off any man’s voice I ever heerd to the very nines.
1864		Dundee Courier 17 Dec. 4/4: Horses [...] in plain harness, cleaned and oiled ‘to the nines’.
1878		‘’Arry on the Turf’ in Punch 29 Nov. 297/1: And as for me wizawee, well / If she wasn’t up to the nines, I’m no judge of a sheminine swell.
1882		Portsmouth Eve. News 27 Dec. 2/6: The three prize ‘babbies’ of the institution [...] appearing to enjoy themselves ‘to the nines’.
1891		N. Gould Double Event 31: You do things up to the nines here.
1895		Leeds Times 7 Sept. 4/5: ‘To the nines’ expresses a state of perfection.
1895		Crowe Aus. Sl. Dict. 52: Nines, ‘dressed up to the nines,’ dressed in a showy manner.
1897		Bath Chron. 2 Dec. 8/2: Two Jolly Black-Faced Niggers smartly ‘togged up to the nines’.
1904		Exeter & Plymouth Gaz. 7 May 4/1: Seeing him [...] got up ‘to the nines’ in evening dress.
1914		Jackson & Hellyer Vocab. Criminal Sl. 62: nines [...] Current among roues and cosmopolitans. The limit possible; the maximum extent. Example: ‘He’s soused to the nines.’ ‘That dony is made up to the nines,’ i.e. artificially beautified.
1922		John O’London’s Weekly 22 Feb. 585: ‘Up to the nines,’ which he defines rightly enough as ‘to perfection.’.
1931		Irwin Amer. Tramp and Und. Sl. 135: Nines. – The absolute limit; finality.
1938		F.D. Sharpe Sharpe of the Flying Squad 204: Spivs, pickpockets, race-course twisters, and thugs dolled up to the nines.
1940		F. Sargeson ‘An Englishwoman Abroad’ in A Man And His Wife (1944) 56: Done up to the nines – nails lacquered and plenty of make-up.
1951		P. Hamilton West Pier (1986) 83: Being in her best dress, and ‘got up to the nines,’ she was tonight in one of these optimistic moods.
1953		J. Franklyn Cockney 310: A coster arrayed pearly to the nines.
1962		B. Behan Brendan Behan’s Island (1984) 59: But I thought [...] that she’d be like – like – that she’d be dolled up to the nines – paint and powder and a fur coat maybe.
1980		A. Payne ‘All Mod Cons’ in Minder [TV script] 44: Shirley is done up to the nines, a real little goer.
1990		in D. Campbell That Was Business, This Is Personal 13: All the women, all the gangsters’ molls, they were all done up to the nines.
1999		Guardian Weekend 19 June 22: 25 years gacked to the nines.
2002		‘Touré’ Portable Promised Land (ms.) 158: We Words (My Favorite Things) [...] Round the way. To the bone. To the nines. To the max.
2012		A. McKinty ‘The Dutch Book’ in Crime Factory: Hard Labour [ebook] He was in debt to the nines the remainder of his life.
2021		J. Ellroy Widespread Panic 96: ‘He wants you dressed to the nines for your Mocambo gig’.
2023		A. Parks To Die in June 182: [A] queue [...] waiting to get into the disco above the Apollo. All of them dressed to the nines.

2. aware, alert, knowledgeable.

1873		Sl. Dict. 237: To the nines to the dodges of the day. ‘He’s up to the nines,’ means he’s up to everything.
1895		Crowe Aus. Sl. Dict. 87: To the Nines [...] up to everything.