On cloud nine

Meaning
In a state of blissful happiness.

Origin
Whenever a phrase includes a number, like the whole nine yards, at sixes and sevens etc., then attempts to find its derivation usually focus on the number. 'On cloud nine' is no exception. A commonly heard explanation is that the expression originated as one of the classifications of cloud which were defined by the US Weather Bureau in the 1950s, in which 'Cloud Nine' denotes the fluffy cumulonimbus type that are considered so attractive. Another explanation is that the phrase derives from Buddhism and that Cloud Nine is one of the stages of the progress to enlightenment of a Bodhisattva (one destined to become a Buddha).

Neither of these explanations holds water. To begin with, both the cloud classifications and the Buddhist stages to enlightenment have ten levels. To single out the last but one stage of either is rather like attributing the source of the 'whole nine yards' to American Football, where it is ten yards rather than nine that is a significant measure. Also, the fact that nine is far from the only number that has been linked with clouds, argues against those origins. Early examples of 'cloud' expressions include clouds seven, eight, nine and even thirty-nine.

It seems that it is the clouds themselves, rather than the number of them, that were in the thoughts of those who coined this phrase. The imagery was originally of a 'cloud cuckoo land' or 'head in the clouds' dreaminess, induced by either intoxication or inspiration, rather than the 'idyllic happiness' that we now associate with the phrase. The early references all come from mid 20th century USA and the earliest that I've found is in Albin Pollock's directory of slang, The Underworld Speaks, 1935:

"Cloud eight, befuddled on account of drinking too much liquor."

'Cloud nine' comes a little later, for example, in The Oxnard Press-Courier, August 1946:

"I think he has thought of everything, unless the authorities pull something new on him out of cloud nine."

Around the same period we find clouds seven and thirty-nine, in The San Mateo Times, April 1952 and Ross’s Hustlers, 1956, respectively:

"Mantovani's skilled use of reeds and strings puts this disc way up on Cloud Seven."
"That stuff is way up on Cloud Thirty-nine."

The early favourite was 'cloud seven' and many of the oldest citations use that form, as in this piece from The Dictionary of American Slang, 1960, which was the first printed definition of the term:

"Cloud seven - completely happy, perfectly satisfied; in a euphoric state."

This early preference for seven as the significant number may have been influenced by the existing phrase 'seventh heaven'.

Since the 1980s or so, 'cloud nine' has become predominant. That has probably been influenced by the use of 'cloud nine' in popular music - George Harrison adopted the term as the title of his 1987 album and, more notably, The Temptations' 'psychedelic soul' album of the same name, in 1969.

Linguistic hype being what it is, we now hear people expressing their happiness with the inflationary 'cloud ten', which brings us back to the cumulonimbus/Buddhist theories. Eighth heaven anyone?

Source: http://www.phrases.org.uk/meanings/on-cloud-nine.html

Dressed to the nines

Meaning
Dressed flamboyantly or smartly.

Origin
Nine is, without doubt, the most troublesome number in etymology. Phrases of uncertain parentage that include 'nine' are 'cloud nine' and the infamous 'whole nine yards'. To those we can add 'dressed to the nines'.

Numerous attempts have been made to associate the number nine with clothing and so to explain the phrase's derivation. One theory has it that tailors used nine yards of material to make a suit (or according to some authors, a shirt). The more material you had the more status, although nine yards seems generous even for a fop. Another commonly repeated explanation comes from the exquisitely smart uniforms of the 99th (Lanarkshire) Regiment of Foot, which was raised in 1824. The problem with these explanations is that they come with no evidence to support them, apart from a reference to the number nine (or 99, which seems to be stretching the cloth rather thinly). The regiment was in business in the early 19th century, which is at least the right sort of date for a phrase that became widely used in the middle of that century. The first example of the use of the phrase that I can find in print is an extract from the New York Herald, 1837:

"One evening a smart young mechanic, 'dressed to the nines', as Ben Bowline says, might have been seen wending his way along Broadway."

What counts against the above explanations, and indeed against any of the supposed explanations that attempt to link the number nine to some property of clothing, is the prior use of the shorter phrase 'to the nine' or 'to the nines', which was used to indicate perfection, the highest standards. That was in use in the 18th century, well before 'dressed to the nines' was first used, as in this example from William Hamilton's Epistle to Ramsay, 1719:

The bonny Lines therein thou sent me,
How to the nines they did content me.

It is worth noting that the number nine has long been used as a superlative. Classical mythology gave us the Nine Muses of Arts and Learning. The Nine Worthies were characters drawn from the Pagan and Jewish history and from the Bible. This distinguished group consisted of Hector, Alexander, Julius Caesar, Joshua, David, Judas Maccabaeus, King Arthur, Charlemagne, and Godfrey of Bouillon.

The Nine Worthies, usually called simply The Nine, were well-known to mediaeval scholars as the personification of all that was noble and heroic. The Poetick Miscellenies of Mr John Rawlett, 1687, provides the earliest reference to 'to the Nine' that I can find:

The learned tribe whose works the World do bless,
Finish those works in some recess;
Both the Philosopher and Divine,
And Poets most who still make their address
In private to the Nine.

It seems clear that 'the Nine' that Rawlett was referring to were the Nine Worthies. It is just as clear that 'dressed to the nines' is merely an extension of 'to the nine/s' and that we could equally well say 'danced to the nines' or 'embroidered to the nines' to appreciate good dancing or embroidery. It isn't surprising that the search for the link between 'nines' and dress sense has unearthed no convincing candidates - call off the dogs; there is no such link.

Source: http://www.phrases.org.uk/meanings/dressed-to-the-nines.html