The full nine yards (1907)

[Shapiro, Fred]

Later in the day I will comment a little bit more fully on these stunning latest discoveries by Bonnie, but for now let me ask, on the basis of this 1907 citation, is it possible that "nine yards" meant "nine innings"?

Fred Shapiro
Editor
YALE BOOK OF QUOTATIONS (Yale University Press)


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From: American Dialect Society [ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU] on behalf of Bonnie Taylor-Blake [b.taylorblake at GMAIL.COM]
Sent: Friday, September 06, 2013 3:38 PM
To: ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU
Subject: The full nine yards (1907)

Again via newspaperarchive.com. -- Bonnie

This afternoon at 2:30 will be called one of the baseball games that
will be worth going a long way to see.  The regular nine is going to
play the business men as many innings as they can, but we can not
promise the full nine yards.  [From "Baseball," The Mitchell
Commercial (Lawrence County, Indiana), 2 May 1907, p. 2]

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The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org