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    What is the origin of the phrase 'cloud nine' or 'being on cloud nine'?

    Question #15033. Asked by Claudette. (Dec 16 01 3:48 AM)


    The Gorm

    		According to Brewer's, the US Weather Bureau

    Dec 16 01, 11:29 AM
    Tabby Tom

    		According to Brewer's Dictionary of Phrase and Fable:

    'The expression derives from terminology used by the United States Weather Bureau. Clouds are divided into classes, and each class into nine types. Cloud nine is cumulonimbus, a cumulus cloud of great vertical extent, topped with shapes of mountains or towers'.

    Other people derive it from the ninth circle of heaven in Dante's Divine Comedy (i.e. the nearest to God).

    The OED doesn't give a derivation, but notes that 'cloud seven' has also been used. It quotes from Flexner and Wentworth's Dictionary of American Slang (1960), which defines 'On cloud seven' as 'completely happy, perfectly satisfied, in a euphoric state'.

    Dec 16 01, 11:35 AM

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