/ayt/ , n.
1. a cardinal number, seven plus one.
2. a symbol for this number, as 8 or VIII.
3. a set of this many persons or things, as the crew of an eight-oared racing shell.
4. a playing card the face of which bears eight pips.
5. Informal.
a. an automobile powered by an eight-cylinder engine.
b. an eight-cylinder engine.
adj.
6. amounting to eight in number.
[ bef. 1000; ME eighte, OE ( e ) ahta; c. D acht, OS, OHG ahto (G acht ), ON atta, Goth ahtau, L octo, Gk októ, OIr ocht, Welsh wyth, Breton eiz, Tocharian B okt, Lith aštuonì, Albanian tetë, Armenian uth, Pers hasht, Skt astáu; appar. an old dual in form, but not clear of what ]