Definition of "eighties"

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.

1914, Amherst College, “Amherst graduates' quarterly”, in (Please provide the book title or journal name), volume 4, page 6

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.

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

These publications can, however, be linked to a very eighties trend initiated among African American women writers like Toni Morrison and Alice Walker whose most distinguished novels deal with previously untold stories set deep in America's imperialist, slave-owning past.

1995, Anthony Ilona, “Crossing the River: A chronicle of the black Diaspora”, in Wasafiri, volume 11, number 22, pages 3–9

Next to her, a woman with puffy sleeves, bright bubblegum makeup, and big eighties hair spoke melodiously into a microphone.

2020, Chana Porter, The Seep, New York, NY: Soho Press, page 169