Summer Sale! Save 25% off a BookBrowse Membership, offer ends soon!

Why do we say "A stitch in time saves nine"?

Well-Known Expressions

A stitch in time saves nine

Meaning:

Deal with a problem when it first appears and you'll save yourself a lot of time and/or money later.

Background:

This proverb is first cited in English in Gnomologia: Adagies and Proverbs Collected by Thomas Fuller (1732)

Some say that the term originates at sea which seems to make sense as a quick stitch to a sail that is coming apart will certainly save a lot of trouble later; and many sources suggest that "nine" was added later for rhyming purposes (Thomas Fuller quotes it as "may save nine")

However, a few suggest a more macabre source of the phrase saying that it took 9 pounds of shot to weigh down the body sack of a person being buried at sea, and the last stitch was made through a body part, partly to keep the shroud and body together and partly so that if the person wasn't actually dead and woke as a result of being pierced through the skin with a large needle, nine pounds of shot would not be wasted!

The first explanation seems to make more sense to us. While it is true that when sewing up a shroud on a ship the last stitch was often made through the nose, there doesn't appear to be any record of a fixed amount of weight being associated with a burial at sea.

More expressions and their source

Challenge yourself with BookBrowse Wordplays

BookBrowse Book Club

  • Book Jacket
    The Ghostwriter
    by Julie Clark
    From the instant New York Times bestselling author of The Last Flight and The Lies I Tell comes a dazzling new thriller.

Members Recommend

  • Book Jacket

    Ordinary Love
    by Marie Rutkoski

    A riveting story of class, ambition, and bisexuality—one woman risks everything for a second chance at first love.

  • Book Jacket

    Making Friends Can Be Murder
    by Kathleen West

    Thirty-year-old Sarah Jones is drawn into a neighborhood murder mystery after befriending a deceptive con artist.

Who Said...

The dirtiest book of all is the expurgated book

Click Here to find out who said this, as well as discovering other famous literary quotes!

Wordplay

Solve this clue:

B a L

and be entered to win..

Your guide toexceptional          books

BookBrowse seeks out and recommends the best in contemporary fiction and nonfiction—books that not only engage and entertain but also deepen our understanding of ourselves and the world around us.