eighty
[ey-tee]
- 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.
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- amounting to 80 in number.
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Origin of eighty
Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2018
Examples from the Web for eighties
Contemporary Examples
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
The epigram, with its faint whiff of the eighties, meant nothing.
Howards EndE. M. Forster
I first met him one Fourth of July afternoon in the middle eighties.
Blazed Trail StoriesStewart Edward White
These two belong to the group known as "the Men of the Eighties."
Maxim GorkiHans Ostwald
It broke down the strength of Mr. Gladstone's Government in the eighties.
Home RuleHarold Spender
He had time to go over to the precinct station in the West Eighties first.
Out Like a LightGordon Randall Garrett
eighty
- 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
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- amounting to eightyeighty pages of nonsense
- (as pronoun)eighty are expected
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Word Origin
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
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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eighty
Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2010 Douglas Harper