a. and sb. Forms: α. 1 ahta, eahta, æhte, 2 ehte, (Orm.) ehhte, 3 æhte, eahte, 3–5 eyȝt(e, eiȝ-, eih-, eyhte, (3 eȝte, eyth), 4–6 eyght(e, (4 eheit, heyt, eyt, ȝit(t, 5 eght, eyȝthe), 6– eight. β. 3–5 acht, aght, aȝt(e, aht(e, Sc. auht(e, 5 Sc. awcht, 4– Sc. aucht, 6– Sc. aught. [Com. Teut. and Aryan: OE. ahta, eahta, æhte, Northumb. æhto, = OFris. achta, achte, acht, OS. ahto (Du. acht), OHG. ahto (MHG. ahte, mod.G. acht), ON. (*ahta) átta (Sw. åtta, Da. otte), Goth. ahtau; cf. L. octo, Gr. ὀκτώ, OIr. ocht, Lith. asztůnì, Skr. ashtáu.]
The cardinal numeral next after seven, represented by the symbols 8 or viii.
A. as adj.
1. In concord with sb. expressed.
Beowulf, 2075 (Th.). Heht ða … eahta mearas … on flet teon.
a. 1000. Menologium, 95 (Gr.). Þæs emb ahta and niʓon Dogera rimes.
1070. O. E. Chron. (Laud MS.). Turold abbot and æhte siþe twenti Frencisce men mid him.
c. 1200. Ormin, 4327. Rihht ehhte siþe an hunndredd.
a. 1225. Ancr. R., Pref. 23. This an Boc is todealet in eahte lesse Boke.
1297. R. Glouc. (1810), 385. As in þe ȝer of grace a þousend ȝer yt was And four score & eyȝte.
a. 1300. Cursor M., 188. He heled on al vnfere Þat seke was thritte and aht yeir.
1375. Barbour, Bruce, XI. 523. Aucht hundreth armyt, I trow, thai weir.
c. 1425. Wyntoun, Cron., VI. viii. 104. Aucht hundyr wynter and seventy.
c. 1489. Caxton, Sonnes of Aymon, 210. I shall make them to be accompanyed of eyghte erles.
1513–75. Diurn. Occurr. (1833), 10. In the year of God jm. vc, twantie aucht yeiris.
1541. Elyot, Image Gov. (1549), 80. In eight the first yeeres of his empire.
1631. Milton, Epit. Mchness. Winchester, 7. Summers three times eight save one She had told.
a. 1758. Ramsay, Poems (1844), 83. Twa times aught bannacks in a heap.
1735. Pope, Prol. Sat., 182. The Bard … strains from hard-bound brains, eight lines a year.
1885. Ball, Story of the Heavens, 146. An interval of eight years.
b. (An) eight days = a week.
c. 1160. Hatton Gosp., John xx. 26. Efter ehte [c. 1000 eahta] daʓen hys leorning-cnihtes wæren inne.
1340. Ayenb., 45. Naȝt uor ane monþe ne to eȝte dayes: ac ine one zelue day.
1611. Bible, Luke ix. 28. About an eight dayes after these sayings.
1664. Evelyn, Kal. Hort. (1729), 194. Eight Days after, prick them forth at distances.
2. With ellipsis of sb., which may usually be supplied from context.
c. 1205. Lay., 26502. Þer achte þer niȝene.
a. 1225. Ancr. R., 334. Al þene world, bute eihte i þen arche.
c. 1325. E. E. Allit. P., B. 331. Þis meyny of aȝte I schal saue of monnez saulez.
c. 1330. R. Brunne, Chron. (1810), 84. Þe date was a þousand & fourscore & auhte.
c. 1340. Cursor M., 1927. Ȝou ȝitt haue I forborn … My brode benesoun I ȝou ȝyue.
c. 1425. Wyntoun, Cron., VII. x. 521. For awcht or ten In comowne prys sawld wes þen.
c. 1460. Towneley Myst., 13. We, acht, acht, and neyn, and ten is this.
1588. A. King, trans. Canisius’ Catech., 161 b. Our Lords beatitudes … ar rakened aught in number as follouis.
1864. Tennyson, Aylmer’s F., 638. Eight that were left to make a purer world.
b. esp. With omission of hours; as eight o’ clock, etc.
1598. Shaks., Merry W., III. iii. 210. Let him be sent for to morrow, eight a clocke to haue amends. Ibid. (1601), Twel. N., V. i. 205. His eyes were set at eight i’th morning.
1710. Steele, Tatler, No. 263, ¶ 1. I went to see him … about Eight a Clock in the Evening.
Mod. We breakfast at eight.
c. Prosody. In eight and six (four, etc.): in lines alternately consisting of those numbers of syllables. See B. 2 d.
1590. Shaks., Mids. N., III. i. 25. It shall be written in eight and sixe.
† d. Piece of eight (reals): the Spanish ‘dollar’ or ‘piastre’ (Sp. pieza de á ocho). Obs. exc. Hist.
1699. Temple, Ess. Constit. & Int. Empire, Wks. 1731, I. 111. Crying up the pieces of Eight.
1727. A. Hamilton, New Acc. E. Ind. (1744), II. 129. At Rambang I bought a cow … for two Pieces of Eight.
1790. Beatson, Nav. & Mil. Mem., I. 163. The Salisbury … took a Spanish ship, with one hundred and fifty thousand pieces of eight on board.
1883. Stevenson, Treasure Isl., V. xxvii. 225. Pieces of eight!
3. Coupled with a higher cardinal or ordinal numeral following, so as to form a compound (cardinal or ordinal) numeral.
1579. Fulke, Heskins’ Parl., 485. The eight and fortieth Chapter abideth in the exposition of the same text, by Chrysostome and S. Augustine.
1607. Topsell, Four-f. Beasts, 332. Euery yeare, vppon the eight and twenty day of August, they obserue a solemn feast.
1832. Marryat, N. Forster, II. iv. 53. D—n your eight-and-twenties!
B. as sb.
1. The abstract number eight.
1398. Trevisa, Barth. De P. R., XIX. cxxi. (1495), 922. One doo to seuen makyth the nombre of eyghte.
1808. Wilford, in Asiat. Res., VIII. 289. Seven is a fortunate number among the Hindus: eight among the Baudd’hists.
2. A set of eight persons or things.
a. Card-playing. A card marked with eight pips.
1598. Florio, Otto, the number of eight, an eight vpon the cards.
1680. Cotton, Compl. Gamester, in Singer, Hist. Cards, 341. Then he plays his eight of hearts.
b. The crew of a rowing boat, consisting of eight oarsmen. The Eights: boat-races at the Universities of Oxford and Cambridge between the boats of the different colleges, which take place in the Summer Term. Hence Eights Week.
1847. Illustr. Lond. News, 28 Aug., 142/1. I rowed in a fairish ‘eight.’
1871. M. Collins, Mrq. & Merch., I. i. 6. He … could not be persuaded to be one of the University eight.
c. Bibliography. In eights: an expression indicating the number of leaves in a sheet of an early printed book.
1858. Lowndes, Bibliogr., s.v. Caxton, It [the Cronicles] terminates on the recto of Y 6 in eights.
1883. Gregor, in Rolland’s Crt. Venus, Introd. 31. It is a quarto, and contists of A to I in eights.
c. 1884. Brit. Mus. Cat., Sarum Primer (1538), Register: sigs. A–T, in eights, except T which has four leaves.
d. Metre. In eights: in lines of eight syllables. So In eights and sixes (fours, etc.): in alternate lines of those lengths. Chiefly said of hymns.
3. The figure (8) representing this number; hence anything in the form of an 8; esp. a figure made on the ice in skating. Also figure (of) eight; sometimes attrib.
1607. Dekker, Knt.’s Conjur. (1842), 15. All our courses are but figures of eight.
1842. Tennyson, Epic, 10. Cutting eights that day upon the pond.
1851. Sir F. Palgrave, Norm. & Eng., I. 626. The thrice-repeated eight, the eight hundred and eighty and eight, which dissolved the Carlovingian Empire.
c. 1860. H. Stuart, Seaman’s Catech., 1. What is a figure of eight knot used for?
1876. A. Arnold, Persia, in Contemp. Rev., June, 42. One is surprised to see a European cutting figures of eight upon frozen pools.
1887. Cornh. Mag., March, 255. They danced a figure 8 chain.
C. Comb., as eight-angled, -celled, -sided, threaded adjs.; combined with sbs. forming adjs. of dimension, etc., as eight-inch, -line, -penny; eight-day adj., -fold adj. and adv.; eight-day clock, a clock that goes for eight days without winding up; eight-oar a. (of a boat), manned by eight rowers; also as sb.; eight-shaft, a kind of corded fabric; eightsman, one of the crew of an eight-oar. (Eight pence is almost always written as one word, usu. without hyphen.)
1656. W. Du Gard, trans. Comenius’ Gate Lat. Unl., § 523. 155. A Dye, four-square, (though six-sided, and *eight angled).
1882. Vines, Sachs’ Bot., 521. The neck appears to form … an *eight-celled rosette.
1836. Dickens, Sk. Boz, ii. He took to pieces the *eight-day clock.
1866. Howells, Venet. Life, xviii. 278. Little eight-day-old Venetians.
1850. Mrs. Browning, Poems, I. 293. An eight-day watch had watchëd she.
1557. Recorde, Whetst., B ij. Octupla … *eightfolde.
1848. Macaulay, Hist. Eng., I. 344. The customs had multiplied eightfold within sixteen years.
1871. Alabaster, Wheel of Law, Introd. 42. The paths of the saints, or the eightfold path of purity.
1825. J. Nicholson, Operat. Mechanic, 660. His patent locomotive engine, with two *eight-inch cylinders, weighs five tons.
1860. All Y. Round, No. 73. 548. The cost of an eight-inch cast-iron gun … is about a hundred pounds.
1864. Hazlitt, Early Pop. Poetry, IV. 19. In four *eight-line stanzas.
1874. Knight, Dict. Mech., *Eight-line Pica. A type whose face has eight times the length of pica.
1850. Kingsley, Alt. Locke, xii. (1874), 105. An *eight-oar lay under the bank.
1862. Sat. Rev., 15 March, 300. If Mr. Urquhart could persuade the Universities to substitute Turkish baths for eight-oars.
1596. Shaks., 1 Hen. IV., III. ii. 119. A Trifle, some *eight-penny matter.
1678. Lond. Gaz., No. 1348/4. Eight pieces of Eight-peny taffaty Ribon.
c. 1850. Rudim. Navig. (Weale), 135. Nails of sorts … 8, 10, 24, 30, and 40-penny nails.
1840. L’pool Jrnl., 4 July, 1/2. A great Stock of Fustians, in Beaverteens … *Eightshaft, Constitution, and other excellent Cords.
1823. H. J. Brooke, Introd. Crystallogr., 133. A series of double *eight-sided pyramids might result from class h, i, and k.
1882. Standard, 16 March, 2/4. I am, Sir, your obedient servant, An *Eightsman.
1696. Bp. Patrick, Comm. Ex., xxviii. (1697), 536. Some will have it that [Maschzar] … signifies *eightthredded Linen.
Eight, obs. form of AIT.
1664. Evelyn, Sylva, 42. Some do also plant Oziers in their Eights like Quick-sets, thick, and neer the water.
Eighte, eiȝte, obs. ff. AUGHT, property.
