nine

name

1. A surname.

noun

Etymology: PIE word *h₁néwn̥ From Middle English nyn, nyne, from Old English nigon (“nine”), from Proto-West Germanic *neun, from Proto-Germanic *newun (“nine”), from Proto-Indo-European *h₁néwn̥ (“nine”). Cognate with Scots neen, nine (“nine”), Saterland Frisian njúgen (“nine”), West Frisian njoggen (“nine”), Dutch negen (“nine”), German Low German negen (“nine”), German neun (“nine”), Danish ni (“nine”), Swedish nio (“nine”), Icelandic níu (“nine”), Gothic 𐌽𐌹𐌿𐌽 (niun, “nine”), Latin novem (“nine”), Ancient Greek ἐννέα (ennéa, “nine”), Sanskrit नव (náva, “nine”).

1. The digit or figure 9.

   “Indeed, if a number does not have nines, you can remove or add zeroes at the end of a biography to get another biography of the same number.”

2. A playing card with nine pips.
3. A nine-millimeter semi-automatic pistol.

   “Hiro risks turning on a small flashlight, uses it to rummage around the yatcht, picking up valuable stuff: a few bottles of (presumably) drinkable water, some food, extra ammunition for his nine.”

4. A statistical unit of proportion (of reliability, purity, etc.).

   “They guaranteed that our Web site would have 99.99% uptime, or four nines.”

5. A baseball club, team, or lineup (composed of nine players).

   “The St. Louis club is the only nine in the league which gives its patrons the right to see a full game or no pay.”

num

Etymology: PIE word *h₁néwn̥ From Middle English nyn, nyne, from Old English nigon (“nine”), from Proto-West Germanic *neun, from Proto-Germanic *newun (“nine”), from Proto-Indo-European *h₁néwn̥ (“nine”). Cognate with Scots neen, nine (“nine”), Saterland Frisian njúgen (“nine”), West Frisian njoggen (“nine”), Dutch negen (“nine”), German Low German negen (“nine”), German neun (“nine”), Danish ni (“nine”), Swedish nio (“nine”), Icelandic níu (“nine”), Gothic 𐌽𐌹𐌿𐌽 (niun, “nine”), Latin novem (“nine”), Ancient Greek ἐννέα (ennéa, “nine”), Sanskrit नव (náva, “nine”).

1. A numerical value equal to 9; the number following eight and preceding ten.

   “Would they want me to vote my conscience or would they want us to unanimously go the whole nine yards, declare him sane and possibly have the trial end up in a death sentence?”

   “Of course, for a number to have a biography, we need to assume that none of its digits are present more than nine times.”

2. Describing a group or set with nine elements.

   “A cat has nine lives.”