English

Alternative forms

• (of the decade) 'eighties

Noun

eighties

1. plural of eighty
2. The decade of the 1880s, 1980s, etc.
   • 1914, Amherst College, “Amherst graduates' quarterly”, in (Please provide the title of the work), volume 4, page 6:

     Our readers — and contributors — are apt to elect a good deal according to years. The seventies and eighties, we may suppose, are concerned for the large educational and cultural interests of their Alma Mater; the nineties are deep in the practical and business activities; the noughties are not naughty, but still young enough to sport a fantastic costume at reunion and let the college wag as it will; the oneties are the really wise as to what the college ought to be, especially on its athletic side, but as contributors modest.

   • 1919, Harry Hamilton Johnston, The Gay-Dombeys: A Novel, Macmillan, page 172,

     He and his clever staff of minor blackguards exploited to the full every weakness and caries in the London Society of the 'eighties, 'nineties, and 'oughts.

3. The decade of one's life from age 80 through age 89.

Synonyms

• 1980s, '80s, 80s

Translations

See also

• octogenarian