† ˈeightin, a. Obs.
Forms: 3 eȝten(e)de, ehtende, (Orm.) ehhtennde, 4 eyh-, eytand, -end, aighteden, agt-, aghtand(e, -end, aghten, achtande, aughtene, 5 heghten, auchtand, 6 egh-, eyȝ-, eyhtyn(e, eighytyn, auchtane, -in.
[The northern form of eighth; perh. of Scandinavian origin; cf. ON. (*ahtundi) áttundi; the intrusive n, due to the analogy of seventh (cf. ONorthumb. seofunða), occurs in OFris. achtunda.]
= eighth.
| c 1200 Trin. Coll. Hom. 87 On þe ehtende dai after þe childes burde, þe frend shopen þe child name. c 1250 Gen. & Ex. 2543 Ðe eȝtenede king amonaphis, Agenes ðis folc hatel is. a 1300 Cursor M. 9169 Þe eyhtand sibile bigan to rise. Ibid. 10573 Of decembre þe aghten dai Was sco geten. c 1340 Hampole Prose Tr. (1866) 11 The aughtene commandement es that ‘thou sall noghte bere false wyttnes agaynes thi neghteboure’. c 1440 Melayne 828 All solde come..By the heghten day at none. 1522 Test. Ebor. (Surtees) V. 150, I will that my executrix..make an eghtyn day honestly for me. 1558 Lyndesay Dreme 531 The sewint [is callit] Thronus, the auchtin, Cherubin. |
b. Comb. † eightin-dele, -dole [lit. eighth part]: an obsolete measure of capacity.
(Wey in Promp. Parv. says ‘1/8 of a coom’ = 16 quarts; the haughendo, aghendole of Lancashire may be the same word, though identified with halvendeal by the editors of Lanc. Gloss. (E.D.S.), who quote conflicting explanations of it as ‘7 quarts’, ‘8 pounds’.)
| 1440 Promp. Parv. 137 Eyȝtyndele, mesure. 1887 Rogers Agric. & Prices V. 323 At Gawthorp..Shuttleworth pays 6d. for an eightendole. |