Meaning of eight in English:

eight

Pronunciation /eɪt/

See synonyms for eight

Translate eight into Spanish

cardinal number

1
(also viii, VIII)
Equivalent to the product of two and four; one more than seven, or two less than ten; 8.
‘a committee of eight members’
- ‘eight of them were unemployed’
- ‘eight were acquitted’
- ‘Even though there are four to eight members on each panel, only three of them vote on each record.’
- ‘They form a committee of eight members, and I personally have nothing to do.’
- ‘He and his wife Kittie reared a family of eight, five boys and three girls.’
- ‘Of the eight others, seven received suspended sentences and one was acquitted.’
- ‘Females usually lay one egg per day, producing a clutch of four to eight eggs.’
- ‘At this rate it will take seven to eight weeks to fill the bin.’
- ‘To make matters worse, Shannon's resource teaching hours were cut from eight to four and Paul will get no help this year.’
- ‘I have lots of good friends down there now, been going down there now for seven or eight years, and it's a very special part of my life.’
- ‘Most people are out at work seven to eight hours a day.’
- ‘A Bradford Crown Court jury of eight women and four men reached a unanimous verdict yesterday after six hours of deliberations.’
- ‘"China won eight medals out of 15 four years ago and were seeded this time to win more.’
- ‘I came back to England after spending eight months over in America.’
- ‘With Vancouver, a team that won eight games last season, there's no pressure - and it shows.’
- ‘Last year, the team won eight in a row to close the regular season.’
- ‘They've scored eight runs in their last three games.’
- ‘Stay in the lunge position and complete eight to 10 reps with the working leg.’
- ‘Complete eight to 12 reps, then lean forward at the hips.’
- ‘The top eight teams from today's competition qualify to tomorrow's quarterfinals.’
- ‘Of the eight teams in the finals, four were beaten at the weekend.’
- ‘We have reached the final for the last eight years and won it four times.’
1. 1.1A group of eight people or things.
  ‘the win placed Canada closer to the final eight’
  ‘Byron now move into the final eight where they will face Woodburn.’
  ‘Both Ivanovic and Evans were not part of the final eight last year.’
  ‘As the old saying goes ‘it's all on the day’ and the final eight will all hold high hopes of going all the way.’
  ‘The youngster beat off competition from thousands of other hopefuls to get through to the final eight with the song Ever Since that Night.’
  ‘This is a recording of the heat which was held in Waterford at Garter Lane some time back when Chris made it into the final eight.’
  ‘Judging by the talent on display at the trials, a fifteenth Varsity win and a place in the final eight appear once again to be imminent.’
  ‘It won't be easy, but on a good day I know I can win, no matter who lines up against me in the final eight.’
  ‘He was the only man to have won a race on the night, to see him through to the final eight.’
  ‘Instead we have had the USA ignoring the apathy in their own land to make it to the final eight.’
  ‘The 16 players in each category will be paired in a round robin system with the top eight qualifying for the final round.’
  ‘He was part of the tennis team which reached the last eight at the national finals.’
  ‘A lot has been made this week of the sad history of recent years where the final eight by round seven is almost cut and dried for the rest of the season.’
  ‘Britain's injury-hit thrower Mick Hill failed to make the final eight after pulling up when making his third throw.’
  ‘On Saturday afternoon three winners from Frontier will join to make up the last eight to contest the final rounds.’
  ‘It would appear that for the first time since 1997 we are too far out of the top eight to make the finals.’
  ‘The final eight is settled and there are some very good sides going around this season.’
  ‘The earliest that Hawthorn could reach the top eight is Round 22.’
  ‘Eighth seed Chanda Rubin had to overcome some stiff resistance to reach the last eight.’
  ‘He was part of the tennis team which reached the last eight at the national finals.’
  ‘The eight, and four others who had still to arrive, are members of the youth group at Ingestre Street Bible Church.’
  ‘She had to place in the top eight to qualify to run for the actual Olympic team tomorrow.’
  octet, eightsome, octuplets
  View synonyms
2. 1.2Eight years old.
  ‘children as young as eight’
  ‘Aisling Young is eight, made her First Holy Communion in May and her granny plaited her hair for the occasion.’
  ‘He has a great interest in collecting things, like any young boy of eight, and has a collection of model dinosaurs.’
  ‘The first category comprised young music lovers between the age of eight and 15.’
  ‘But the couple did not break the news to their youngest daughter Catherine, eight, until this year.’
  ‘Children as young as eight have been inspired to learn foreign words to help them chat with their international email pals.’
  ‘They are particularly concerned that children as young as eight are getting involved as runners for drug dealers.’
  ‘The team works with young people from the ages of eight to 18 to put out of control youths back on the straight and narrow.’
  ‘In some cases, Amnesty said, girls as young as eight are married to much older men.’
  ‘Mr Smith said some residents claimed youngsters as young as eight had been involved in the vandalism.’
  ‘Young girls of eight or nine worked down the mines hauling coal just so the families could exist.’
  ‘For children aged eight to 11 the distance will be at least three miles.’
  ‘Children aged eight to 13 began the sessions at the County Ground yesterday.’
  ‘They live in Kensal Rise with their children aged four, seven and eight.’
  ‘The pensioners were tricked when a boy aged between seven and eight called at their home in Granville Road around 8pm on Friday.’
3. 1.3Eight o'clock.
  ‘the play is to begin at eight’
  ‘Broadcast live on national TV, it begins at around eight in the morning and goes on until near mid-day.’
  ‘I wake up each morning around eight.’
  ‘Well that was no surprise it was only eight in the morning.’
  ‘She took a small sip of beer, even though it was only eight in the morning.’
  ‘No, it's eight in the evening where he is.’
  ‘On Wednesday night, she fell asleep at eight in the evening.’
  ‘I'd snuck up shortly after eight, changed into pajamas and then went down to the kitchen to wait for my parents to wake up.’
  ‘Trey came home at eight or so because Krista had to go home before her parents got angry.’
4. 1.4A size of garment or other merchandise denoted by eight.
  ‘When they say ‘slim white jeans’ they mean 5 foot ten and a size eight or under.’
  ‘And in some high street stores where the clothes are all one size it is difficult to get into anything if you are over a size eight or 10.’
  ‘I want to be able to go into a shop and buy a size eight.’
  ‘I absolutely hated my legs - they were a size 12 while my top was a size eight.’
  ‘She can't be bigger than a size eight, for those who understand such things.’
  ‘You grow up thinking that unless you're a size eight or 10 you're not really attractive.’
  ‘We could all turn into size eights by giving up those naughty hamburgers.’
  ‘Don't kid yourself that buying a size eight dress at a bargain price will be enough of an incentive to lose weight and drop down two sizes.’
  ‘My mom always bought my shoes in her size, size eight, so she could share with me.’
  ‘Inside it is revealed that she reached size eight by running six miles a day and subsisting on a healthy diet of steamed vegetables and fish.’
5. 1.5An eight-oared rowing boat or its crew.
  ‘These 54 athletes had waited all week to contend the eight and the field was impressive.’
  ‘They competed in their country's quad last year but are back leading the eight.’
  ‘This is up an improvement on Sydney when neither the men's nor women's eight qualified.’
  ‘And to get to the Olympics in a rowing eight means you have to be part of a really strong team.’
  ‘The Canadian men's eight had not seen the medal podium for quite some time.’
  ‘Capping off a day of delays and every type of weather, the men's eight kept the audience at the course and in the mood.’
  ‘Australia left it until today to show their speed in the women's eight and they gave Romania a surprise.’
  ‘However their party was spoiled when New Zealand surprisingly took the women's eight.’
  ‘Italy came out on top in the lightweight men's eight despite a fast finishing sprint by Germany.’
  ‘No men's eight will ever want to win a World Championships the year before the Olympic Games.’
  ‘Great Britain's Olympic champion eight made the worst possible start to the defence of their title.’
  ‘The Everett Rowing Association finished third in the junior men's lightweight eight.’
  ‘The biggest bicycle contingent of the day followed the men's eight down the course.’
  ‘However their party was spoiled when New Zealand surprisingly took the women's eight.’
  ‘The women's eight has two changes from last year's bronze medal crew.’
  ‘A mystery was unfolding in the first half of the women's eight.’
  ‘No other boat reached a final, and the eight, defending Olympic champions, came plum last.’
  ‘Two years later he won his first GB senior vest in the eight which won a final place in Seville.’
  ‘She also raced in the final of the eight at the 2001 world championships finishing sixth.’
  ‘And with both the pair and the eight missing out on a place in the final, he knew that the four was his last shot at glory.’
6. 1.6A playing card with eight pips.
  ‘Some players use jacks or aces rather than eights as the cards which have the power to change suit.’
  ‘When an eight is played the player must call the suit for the next player.’
  ‘If a player's only card is an eight, s/he cannot play it and is forced to draw a card that turn.’
  ‘The eight is not replaced since it is no longer in the player's hand when it's played.’
  ‘Once the eight of spades is played, then the seven and nine of spades may be played.’

Phrases

one over the eight

British

informal

One drink too many.
- ‘sometimes it reads as if written when the author herself was one over the eight’
- ‘How do you behave when you've had one over the eight?’
- ‘If I do have one over the eight it's not far to go home.’
- ‘Relations became strained following an incident in which a Constable is alleged to have had one over the eight, and to have caused a fire.’
- ‘Some people get aggressive when they've had one over the eight.’
Origin
Probably from the assumption that the average person can drink eight pints of beer without getting drunk.