<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>

Where did the saying whole 9 yards come from