See Also:

in vitro (iou) and eight (iou)


in vitro (iou)



in vitro adjectival & adverbial phr. L19.
[Latin, lit. 'in glass'.]
Biology. (Performed, obtained, or occurring) in a test-tube or elsewhere outside a living organism.

eight (iou)



eight adjective & noun (cardinal numeral).
[Old English ehta (eahta, ahta) = Old Frisian achta, acht(e), Old Saxon, Old High German ahto (Dutch, German acht), Old Norse atta, Gothic ahtau, from Germanic from Indo-European, whence also Latin octo, Greek okto, Sanskrit aa.]
A. adjective. One more than seven (a cardinal numeral represented by 8 in Arabic numerals, viii, VIII in roman). OE.
an eight days, eight days arch. a week.
E. O'Neill A small, square compartment about eight feet high. A. J. P. Taylor Trade union membership reached a peak of over eight million. W. Boyd One of eight hotels in Nairobi. Financial Times The amendment..gives shareholders a majority (eight-fifteenths) of the seats.
b. noun.
Eight persons or things identified contextually, as parts or divisions, years of age, points, runs, etc., in a game, chances (in giving odds), minutes, inches, shillings (now Hist.), pence, etc. OE.
piece of eight [sc. reals], real of eight Hist. a Spanish dollar.
Tennyson Eight that were left to make a purer world. Day Lewis I had had diphtheria at the age of eight or nine.
One more than seven as an abstract number; the symbol(s) or figure(s) representing this (8 in Arabic numerals, viii, VIII in roman); (more fully figure of eight) a figure shaped like 8, esp. in ice-skating. OE.
lazy eight: see LAZY adjective.
The time of day eight hours after midnight or midday (on a clock, watch, etc., indicated by the numeral eight displayed or pointed to). Also eight o'clock. LME.
R. Maugham I'm at work from eight in the morning.
The eighth of a set or series with numbered members, the one designated eight, (usu. number eight, or with specification, as book eight, chapter eight, etc.); a size etc. denoted by eight, a shoe, glove, garment, etc., of such a size, (also size eight). E16.
factor eight: see FACTOR noun 7c. one over the eight slang (a) noun one alcoholic drink too many; (b) adjective slightly drunk.
A. Ayckbourn My slippers are eights.
A set of eight; a thing having a set of eight as an essential or distinguishing feature; spec. (a) a playing-card marked with eight pips or spots; (b) a crew of eight in a rowing boat; in pl., boat races (esp. at Oxford) between such crews; (c) an eight-oared boat; (d) in pl., eight leaves to the sheet in a printed book, octavo; (e) a line or verse with eight syllables; (f) an engine or motor vehicle with eight cylinders. L16.
middle eight: see MIDDLE adjective. V-eight: see V, V 2.
Each of a set of eight; spec. a large plant-pot of which eight are formed from one cast of clay. E19.
Comb.: Forming compound cardinal numerals with multiples of ten from twenty to ninety, as thirty-eight, (arch.) eight-and-thirty, etc., and (arch.) their corresponding ordinals, as eight-and-thirtieth etc., and with multiples of a hundred, as 208 (read two hundred and eight, US also two hundred eight), 5008 (read five thousand and eight, US also five thousand eight), etc. With nouns + -ER1 forming nouns with the sense 'something (identified contextually) being of or having eight s', as eight-seater, eight-wheeler, etc. Special combs., as eight ball N. Amer. (the black ball, numbered eight, in) a variety of the game of pool; behind the eight ball, at a disadvantage, baffled; eight-day clock a clock that goes for eight days without being wound up; eightpence eight pence, esp. of the old British currency before decimalization; eightpenny adjective worth or costing eightpence; eight-pounder a gun throwing a shot that weighs eight pounds; eight-square adjective & adverb [after four-square] in the form of a regular octagon, with eight equal sides.
eightfold adjective & adverb (a) adjective eight times as great or as numerous; having eight parts, divisions, elements, or units; (
Eightfold Path, the Buddhist path to nirvana, comprising eight aspects in which an aspirant must become practised;
eightfold way (Physics), the grouping of hadrons into supermultiplets by means of SU(3)); (b) adverb to eight times the number or quantity: OE.