Definition of "octoroon"

Yet the least drop of Spanish blood, if it be only of quadroon or octoroon, is sufficient to raise them from the rank of slaves, and entitle them to a suit of clothes—boots, hat, cloak, spurs, long knife, and all complete, though coarse and dirty as may be,—and to call themselves Españolos, and to hold property, if they can get any.

1840, Richard Henry Dana, Jr., Two Years Before the Mast, ch. XIII

There would have been no legal barrier to their union; there would have been no frightful menace to white supremacy in the marriage of the negro and the octoroon: the drop of dark blood bridged the chasm.

1900, Charles W. Chesnutt, The House Behind the Cedars, ch. XVIII

I dare say he has some Italians with him, but our amiable friends are not Italians. They are octoroons and African half-bloods of various shades, but I fear we English think all foreigners are much the same so long as they are dark and dirty.

1914, G. K. Chesterton, The Wisdom of Father Brown, chapter 9

Grandmother Baxter was a quadroon or an octoroon, or in any case she was nearly white.

1969, Maya Angelou, chapter 10, in I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings‎, New York: Bantam, published 1971, page 50

That's Balthios, the octoroon great grandson of Lebron James. He doesn't like to talk about himself, but he's a good guy.

2008, Tales of Game's Studios, quoting Charles Barkley, Barkley, Shut Up and Jam: Gaiden, Tales of Game's Studios

Quintoon: child of mustiphini and white maleUnspeakable: child of mustiphini and white womanOctoroon: child of quintoon and white manUnspeakable: child of quintoon and white woman

2005, Donald Harman Akenson, Irish History of Civilization‎, page 353