Archaic or obsolete plural form of eighth, referring to multiple eighth parts or eighth positions.
From 'eighth' with an archaic plural ending '-es', common in Middle English and Early Modern English before standardization to just '-s'.
English used to pluralize words like 'eighthes' much more often—you'd see 'houses' instead of 'housez,' and this shows how our spelling settled into patterns only a few centuries ago!
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