eighty

[ey-tee]

noun, plural eight·ies.

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.

adjective

amounting to 80 in number.

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. 2019

Examples from the Web for 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 Real-Life Raiders of the Lost Ark|Alex Belth|November 14, 2014|DAILY BEAST
The images tend to be followed by an equally non-contextual eighties reference and nothing more is said.
Juvenile Misogynist Seth MacFarlane Is Not Funny|Amy Zimmerman|June 3, 2014|DAILY BEAST
Its eighties music is so cheesy and the struggle is so real.
The Best Celebrity Cameos in Super Bowl Ads|Marina Watts|February 2, 2014|DAILY BEAST
The novel might be a metafiction in the style of John Barth, who has also in his eighties been influenced by cognitive science.
The Brain Man: What is E. L. Doctorow Up to?|Tom LeClair|January 13, 2014|DAILY BEAST

Back in the eighties, no one knew about a hot glue gun except display people.
Tales of a Bergdorf Goodman Window Dresser|Erin Cunningham|December 5, 2013|DAILY BEAST
A similar scheme was advocated in yet more serious earnest by M. Hermite in the early eighties.
The Dominion of the Air|J. M. Bacon
From the year 1849 till his death in the Eighties, Laube, as is well known, devoted all his powers to the theatre.
Main Currents in Nineteenth Century Literature - 6. Young Germany|Georg Brandes
The game of billiards proceeded, and Henry caught his uncle in the eighties and ran out with an unfinished fifteen.
The Grey Room|Eden Phillpotts
Jay Gould had begun the consolidation in the eighties and Harriman continued it after the panic of 1893.
The New Nation|Frederic L. Paxson
Back in the eighties, a party was given at number 1518 one night for the young niece of two maiden ladies whose home it then was.
A Portrait of Old George Town|Grace Dunlop Ecker

British Dictionary definitions for eighties

eighty

noun plural -ies

the cardinal number that is the product of ten and eightSee 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

determiner

amounting to eightyeighty pages of nonsense
(as pronoun)eighty are expected

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 Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

Word Origin and History for eighties

eighties

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.

eighty

eigteti (late 13c.), from eight + -ty (1). Replacing Old English hundeahtatig, with hund- "ten." Related: Eightieth.

eighty

noun, plural eight·ies.

adjective

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Nearby words

Origin of eighty

Examples from the Web for eighties

eighty

noun plural -ies

determiner

Word Origin for eighty

eighties

eighty