Careful Words

nine (n.)

nine (v.)

nine (adj.)

Eke wonder last but nine deies never in toun.

Geoffrey Chaucer (1328-1400): Troilus and Creseide. Book iv. Line 525.

This wonder (as wonders last) lasted nine daies.

John Heywood (Circa 1565): Proverbes. Part ii. Chap. i.

A woman hath nine lives like a cat.

John Heywood (Circa 1565): Proverbes. Part ii. Chap. iv.

  It has been the providence of Nature to give this creature [the cat] nine lives instead of one.

Pilpay: The Greedy and Ambitious Cat. Fable iii.

Most potent, grave, and reverend signiors,

My very noble and approv'd good masters,

That I have ta'en away this old man's daughter,

It is most true; true, I have married her:

The very head and front of my offending

Hath this extent, no more. Rude am I in my speech,

And little bless'd with the soft phrase of peace:

For since these arms of mine had seven years' pith,

Till now some nine moons wasted, they have used

Their dearest action in the tented field,

And little of this great world can I speak,

More than pertains to feats of broil and battle,

And therefore little shall I grace my cause

In speaking for myself. Yet, by your gracious patience,

I will a round unvarnish'd tale deliver

Of my whole course of love.

William Shakespeare (1564-1616): Othello. Act i. Sc. 3.