a. and sb. Forms: eahtoða, eah-, ehteða- (late WS. also eahteoða), 1–3 eah-, ehtuða, -ðe, 3 eihteoðe, -tuðe, eg-, ehteðe, 3–4 eiȝteðe, -iþe, aȝtþe, 5 eghtid, eyted, 7– eighth: from 3– the forms are often identical with those of the cardinal, 3 eiȝt, 4 eȝte, heyt, aght, 5 eght, 5–6 eyght, 6 awght, ayghte, 5–9 eight, Sc. aucht. [OE. eahtoða = OHG. ahtodo (MHG. ahtode, ahtede, ahte, mod.G. achte) repr. OTeut. type ahto·þon-, f. *ahtau, *ahtô EIGHT (The OS. ahtodo, Goth. ahtuda represent a type *a·htođon-, the result of accent-shifting or of analogy; for the OFris. and ON. forms see EIGHTIN.]
A. adj.
1. That comes next in order to the seventh.
a. 1000. Menologium, 3 (Gr.). Crist wæs … on þy eahteoðan dæʓ Hælend ʓehaten.
c. 1000. Sax. Leechd., II. 298. Eahtoþe is þæs stanes maʓen, þæt [etc.].
c. 1175. Lamb. Hom., 81. Þet me sculde in þe ehtuþe dei þet knaue child embsniþen.
a. 1225. Ancr. R., 144. Þe eihtuðe þinc is hu muchel is þe mede iðe blisse of heouene.
a. 1300. Signs before Judgm., 113, in E. E. P. (1862), 10. Þe eiȝt dai so is dotus and þat ful wel þou salt se.
a. 1300. Cursor M., 29310. Þe aght case falles all þa in þat any witchecraft gers bigyn.
138[?]. Wyclif, Serm., Sel. Wks. II. 267. Þe eiȝtiþe condicioun.
c. 1400. Destr. Troy, 6222. The Eghtid Batell in the burgh [was] Vnder Serces … the souerain of Perce.
1477. Norton, Ord. Alch., vi. in Ashm. (1652), 100. The vertue of the Eight Sphere is here Instrumentall.
1535. Coverdale, 1 Kings viii. 66. And on the eight daye he let the people go.
1552. Abp. Hamilton, Catech. (1884), 11. The rycht keping of the aucht command.
1605. Heywood, If you know not me, Wks. 1874, I. 207. If it be treason To be the daughter to th’ eight Henry, I am a traitor.
1609. Bp. Hall, Disswas. Poperie (1627), 635. Let him heare Origen, what he answers, in the eight volume of his Explanations of Esay.
1664. Evelyn, Kal. Hort. (1729), 194. The sixth, eighth, or tenth Day will be ready for the Seeds.
1788. Gibbon, Decl. & F., liii. (1838), V. 266. But the seventh and eighth centuries were a period of discord and darkness.
1887. Gray’s Anat. (ed. 11), 667. The eighth or auditory nerve.
b. With ellipsis of sb., to be supplied from context. Also in dates, with ellipsis of day (of the month).
a. 1000. Guthlac, 1010 (Gr.). Min feorh heonan On þisse eahteðan [nihte] ende ʓeseceð.
1297. R. Glouc. (1810), 473. The eiȝtethe was, that … citacion non nere Thoru bulle of the pope.
c. 1325. E. E. Allit. P., A. 1010. Þe aȝtþe þe beryl cler & quyt.
a. 1400. Cov. Myst. (1841), 83. The eyted is contempt of veyn glory in us.
c. 1400. Apol. Loll., 77. Þe heyt. Crist biddiþ in þe gospel to His vicar, turn þe swerd in to þe scheþ.
1526. Tindale, Rev. xxi. 20. The ayghte berall.
1588. A. King, trans. Canisius’ Catech., 183. The awght is meiknes quhilk assuages and mitigats al angrie motions of ire.
1642. Charles I., Answ. Petit. Pres. at York, 18 April, 1. Our Message of the eighth of April.
1647. Lilly, Chr. Astrol., xliv. 257. When the Lord of the Ascendant is … in the Antiscion of the Lord of the eighth.
1667. Milton, P. L., IX. 67. The space of seven continu’d Nights he [Satan] rode With darkness … On the eighth return’d.
1861. E. B. Ramsay, Remin., Ser. II. 181. She answered them … ‘The tongue no man can tame … James Third and Aucht,’ and drank off her glass.
2. Eighth part: one of eight equal parts into which a quantity may be divided.
1523. Ld. Berners, Froiss., I. cxxvii. 154. He had nat the eyght part in nombre of men as the frenche kynge had.
1571. Digges, Pantom., III. ix. R ij. An eight part of the great Pyramis H I K.
1660. H. Bloome, Archit., A c. One eight part of the thicknesse.
B. sb. 1. = eighth part. See A. 2.
1557. Recorde, Whetst., B ij b. An eight more.
1747. J. Lind, Lett. Navy, i. (1757), 23. The commander in chief is to have one half of the eight [prize money shares].
1842. Prichard, Nat. Hist. Man, 391. The Muskhoyees form seven eighths of what is termed the Creek Confederacy.
b. Mil. Eighth-wheel, when a body of troops revolves upon its center or one of its ends to the extent of one-eighth part of a circle.
1796. Instr. & Reg. Cavalry (1813), 110. The eighth wheel is toward the flank which is to be the head of the column…. Advantage will arise if the eighth wheel is made on the center of each body. Ibid., 130. According to the degree ordered, whether half, quarter, or eighth wheel.
† 2. Music. = OCTAVE. Obs. a. An interval of seven notes of the diatonic scale.
1597. T. Morley, Introd. Mus., 70. A third, a Fift, a Sixt, and an eight.
1652. News fr. Lowe-Countr., 8. He … Knows Thirds, Fifths, Eights, Rests, Moods, and Time.
1694. Phil. Trans., XVIII. 73. He next Observes, that all Progressions by Concords, except by Eighths, produce Discord.
1706. A. Bedford, Temple Mus., iii. 54. They sang the … Part an Eighth, or Seven Notes higher than the Men.
b. The note separated from any given one above or below by an interval of an eighth.
1609. Douland, Ornith. Microl., 15. In b fa ♯ mi, and his eight, you may not sing mi for fa.
1674. Playford, Skill Mus., I. i. 3. Which will be the same, only Eights to those above.
1685. Boyle, Effects of Mot., vii. 88. I made him raise his voice to an Eighth.
