Examples Word Origin
a cardinal number, ten times eight. a symbol for this number, as 80 or LXXX. a set of this many persons or things. eighties, the numbers, years, degrees, or the like, from 80 through 89, as in referring to numbered streets, indicating the years of a lifetime or of a century, or degrees of temperature. Show More
amounting to 80 in number. Show More
Origin of eighty before 850; Middle English eighteti, Old English eahtatig. See
eight ,
-ty1 Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2018
Examples from the Web for eighties Contemporary Examples of eighties The archaeologist Sarah Nelson is in her eighties , and she would go dig in China this minute if she could get grant money.
The images tend to be followed by an equally non-contextual eighties reference and nothing more is said.
Its eighties music is so cheesy and the struggle is so real.
The novel might be a metafiction in the style of John Barth, who has also in his eighties been influenced by cognitive science.
Back in the eighties , no one knew about a hot glue gun except display people.
Historical Examples of eighties The epigram, with its faint whiff of the eighties , meant nothing.
I first met him one Fourth of July afternoon in the middle eighties .
These two belong to the group known as "the Men of the Eighties ."
It broke down the strength of Mr. Gladstone's Government in the eighties .
He had time to go over to the precinct station in the West Eighties first.
British Dictionary definitions for eighties the cardinal number that is the product of ten and eight See also number (def. 1) a numeral, 80, LXXX, etc, representing this number (plural) the numbers 80–89, esp a person's age or the year of a particular century the amount or quantity that is eight times as big as ten something represented by, representing, or consisting of 80 units Show More
amounting to eighty eighty pages of nonsense (as pronoun ) eighty are expected Show More
Word Origin for eighty Old English eahtatig; related to Old Frisian achtig, Old High German ahtozug
Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition
© William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins
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Word Origin and History for eighties n. 1827 as the years of someone's life between ages 80 and 89; 1833 as the ninth decade of years in a given century; 1854 with reference to Fahrenheit temperature. See eighty .
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n. eigteti (late 13c.), from eight + -ty (1). Replacing Old English hundeahtatig , with hund- "ten." Related: Eightieth .
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Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2010 Douglas Harper
