This is in the dictionary. Basic meaning. Vote to close.

What is the source of this? It seems to be an exceeding specialised expression, and not something I would expect to find in material aimed at English learners, but the style looks like an animation for children.

Found it youtube.com/watch?v=SOOvk7_zyDI Oxford Learning Tree... but this is not an expression that the children that this is aimed at would know. It's just meant to be a bit of "sea captain talk" to add some colour

@JamesK Kids books use whatever terms they need to tell the story. This is about ships so yes, one would expect it. Merriam Webster: c : a half hour period of a watch on shipboard indicated by the strokes of a bell see Ship's Bells Table

Yes, but the kids book doesn't need to use this term to tell the story. The story is about "knowing when to stop". The captain is tired and Biff and Wilf will relieve him. There is no significance to the "nine bells". The captain could have said nothing at all and the story could be exactly the same. It is just some "nautical colour" something a sea captain might say. But something no child would understand. 99.9% of adults wouldn't get it either. In fact, there is little evidence that the author understood the meaning.

Can anyone find another example of "at nine bells" clearly used to mean "never". I can find one example in an old text on Gutenberg (an anecdote about how sailors trick passengers by saying that they will "lift the log at nine bells", and even there it needed to be explained. This is just not an expression that a landlubber would know.

@JamesK You make all sorts of statements that do not ring true. First, there is no such thing as nine bells, they only go to eight. Ship's bells are found throughout literature and tales of the sea or sailing. I learned all sorts of maritime lore from books like Treasure Island. Chpt. 16: IT was about half past one— three bells in the sea phrase—that the two boats went ashore from the Hispaniola.

Okay... so yeah, "three bells" is a ships phrase... And yeah in the usual system of watches the bells go to eight... But is there a common and well know phrase "at nine bells" What I'm saying is that if this is a saying used by sailors, it is not well know by landlubbers. And the inclusion of "nine bells" is just a bit of "nautical colour". There is no internal evidence that the author intends the ironic meaning, because in most examples of "nine bells" it is being used incorrectly since most writers don't know what it means! This isn't about "3 bells" but only about "9 bells".

@JamesK Not everything is already written. That's why there such a thing as creativity. And Paul's answer is very good. How do you know what the author knows or doesn't know? That's presumptuous. And we have no link to go and see., do we?

We don't know. But we can look at the context. And the context here is "a book for very young readers"

I can say with certainty that the intended audience didn't understand this as meaning "don't wake me"

If it means anything to a six year old, it means "wake me at nine o'clock"

Moreover, most teachers, parents and anybody who isn't a sailor won't understand this either.

So either the author deliberately included a phase that nobody who reads this book will understand, on purpose as an "in joke", or "easter egg"

Or the author just made a mistake.

And given how these books are written and edited - They aren't "fact checked". I think the latter is more likely. The author has picked up from Treasure Island, or somewhere. that "sailors say thing like "three bells" and included this as a bit of nautical colour.

But Pauls answer is good (+1) it does explain what this would actually mean if a real sailor said it.

It's just that is probably not what the author meant.

Any way, my challenge remains. Can anyone find another example of "nine bells" being used ironically?