a. (sb.) Forms: 1 ehta-týne, 2 ehte-tyna, 3 æh-, ah-, ehte-, eyȝtetene, 4–5 eyȝ-, eyghtene, Sc. auh-, auchtene, 6 eightene, 6– eighteen. [OE. e(a)htatýne, -téne, corresponds to OFris. achtatîne, OS. ahtotian, ahtetehan (Du. achttien), OHG. ahtozehan (MHG. ahtzehen, mod.G. achtzehn), ON. áttján (átján, Sw. adertån, Da. atten), Goth. *ahtau-taíhun; f. OTeut. *ahtau, ahtô, EIGHT + *tehun TEN; for the divergent Eng. form of the second element, see -TEEN.]
1. The cardinal number next after seventeen; represented by the symbols 18 or xviii.
c. 1000. Ags. Gosp., Luke xiii. 4. Swa þa ehta-tyne [c. 1160 Hatton ehte-tyna] ofer þa feoll se stypel on siloa.
c. 1205. Lay., 18014. Ohtere cnihten ahtene [c. 1275 ehtetene] þusen.
1297. R. Glouc. (1810), 407. In þe ʓer of grace a þousend & four score & eyȝtetene.
c. 1330. R. Brunne, Chron. (1810), 48. Þe date of Criste a þousand & mo bi auhtene.
1398. Trevisa, Barth De P. R., XIX. cxxvi. (1495), 928. Syxe and twelue makyth eyghtene.
c. 1425. Wyntoun, Cron. (Mätz.). Hundyr byschapis and awchtene.
c. 1440. Promp. Parv., 137. Eyȝtene [P. eyghtene], octodecim.
1559. Mirr. Mag., Dk. Suffolk, xi. 3. For eightene monthes we dyd conclude a truce.
a. 1642. Suckling, Fragm. Aurea (1646), 35.
| And for your eighteen pence you sit | |
| The Lord and Judge of all fresh wit. |
1777. Robertson, Hist. Amer. (1783), II. 356–7. He appointed Sandoval to command … eight hundred and eighteen foot soldiers.
1828. Scott, F. M. Perth, xxvi. About eighteen years since … it chanced [etc.].
2. quasi-sb. = eighteen-pounder (see 3).
1833. Marryat, P. Simple, xvii. We took a seat upon the long eighteen.
3. Comb. Eighteen-headed, -tailed adjs.; eighteen-knot a., (a vessel) capable of going eighteen knots in an hour; eighteen-penny a., that is worth or costs eighteen-pence; also quasi-sb.; eighteen-pounder, a gun throwing a shot that weighs eighteen pounds. (Eighteen pence is often written as one word, with or without hyphen.)
1766. Sharp, in Phil. Trans., LVII. 84. This has been used many years in St. Bartholomew’s hospital, instead of the old *eighteen-headed bandage.
1817. Cobbett, Pol. Reg., 8 Feb., 168. Having an *eighteen-penny-piece put into his hand.
1859. Sala, Tw. round Clock, 16. Simpson’s … eighteenpenny fish ordinary.
1883. H. R. Haweis, in Gentl. Mag., July, 47. I proceeded to elicit from the red eighteenpenny [fiddle] all it had to give.
1876. Bancroft, Hist. U. S., V. x. 443. The vessel of war suffered severely from two *eighteen-pounders on the Jersey shore.
1884. Pall Mall Gaz., 13 Nov., 4/2. Exposed to any hostile Power with an *18-knot cruiser.
1748. Smollett, Rod. Rand., xxviii. (1804), 191. We dressed the wound, and applied the *eighteen-tailed bandage.
