<Ul> <Li> Perhaps the most commonly offered explanation is that World War II (1939--1945) aircraft machine gun belts were nine yards long . There are many versions of this explanation with variations regarding type of plane, nationality of gunner and geographic area . An alternative weapon is the ammunition belt for the British Vickers machine gun, invented and adopted by the British Army before World War I (1914--1918). The standard belt for this gun held 250 rounds of ammunition and was approximately twenty feet (under seven yards) in length . However, the Vickers gun as fitted to aircraft during the First World War usually had ammunition containers capable of accommodating linked belts of 350 - 400 rounds, the average length of such a belt being about nine yards, and it was thought that this may be the origin of the phrase . This theory is no longer considered viable, since the phrase predates World War I . </Li> <Li> Another common explanation is that "nine yards" is a cubic measure and refers to the volume of a concrete mixer . This theory, too, is inconsistent with the phrase's history . </Li> <Li> Many of the popular candidates relate to the length of pieces of fabric, or various garments, including Indian saris, Scottish kilts, burial shrouds, or bolts of cloth . No single source verifies that any one of those suggestions was the actual origin . However, an article published in Comments on Etymology demonstrates that fabric was routinely sold in standard lengths of nine yards (and other multiples of three yards) during the 1800s and early 1900s . This may explain why so many different types of cloth or garments have been said to have been nine yards long. The phrase "...she has put the whole nine yards into one shirt" appears in 1855 . </Li> <Li> Other proposed sources include the volume of graves; the length of bridal veils, kilts, burial shrouds, bolts of cloth, or saris; a very long list; ritual disembowelment; shipyards; and American football . Little documentary evidence has surfaced to support any of these explanations . </Li> <Li> One proposed origin involves the world of full - rigged sailing ships, in which yard is used not as a measure of length or size, but as the name of each horizontal spar on which a sail is hung . All square - rigged sails unfurled, with 3 yards on each of 3 masts, could then be described as the whole nine yards, but again no actual documentation has been uncovered to support this explanation, and in any case not all ships had exactly three yards on each mast, even disregarding the fact that by no means all sailing vessels were three - masters . </Li> <Li> Bonnie Taylor - Blake, noting that several early examples are in the form "give" or "tell" the whole nine (or six) yards, has suggested that the idiom likely relied on "yards" as "lengthy or thorough presentation (of news, anecdotes, play - by - play, etc .)" </Li> <Li> Jesse Sheidlower, editor - at - large for the Oxford English Dictionary, and Fred R. Shapiro have argued that the phrase does not have a concrete meaning, pointing to the variance between six and nine yards and comparing it to the whole shebang . </Li> </Ul> <Li> Perhaps the most commonly offered explanation is that World War II (1939--1945) aircraft machine gun belts were nine yards long . There are many versions of this explanation with variations regarding type of plane, nationality of gunner and geographic area . An alternative weapon is the ammunition belt for the British Vickers machine gun, invented and adopted by the British Army before World War I (1914--1918). The standard belt for this gun held 250 rounds of ammunition and was approximately twenty feet (under seven yards) in length . However, the Vickers gun as fitted to aircraft during the First World War usually had ammunition containers capable of accommodating linked belts of 350 - 400 rounds, the average length of such a belt being about nine yards, and it was thought that this may be the origin of the phrase . This theory is no longer considered viable, since the phrase predates World War I . </Li> <Li> Another common explanation is that "nine yards" is a cubic measure and refers to the volume of a concrete mixer . This theory, too, is inconsistent with the phrase's history . </Li> <Li> Many of the popular candidates relate to the length of pieces of fabric, or various garments, including Indian saris, Scottish kilts, burial shrouds, or bolts of cloth . No single source verifies that any one of those suggestions was the actual origin . However, an article published in Comments on Etymology demonstrates that fabric was routinely sold in standard lengths of nine yards (and other multiples of three yards) during the 1800s and early 1900s . This may explain why so many different types of cloth or garments have been said to have been nine yards long. The phrase "...she has put the whole nine yards into one shirt" appears in 1855 . </Li>

Where does the phrase the whole nine yards come from