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Eighty-six is slang meaning "to throw out," "to get rid of," or "to refuse service to." It comes from 1930s soda-counter slang meaning that an item was sold out. There is varying anecdotal evidence about why the term eighty-six was used, but the most common theory is that it is rhyming slang for nix.
Eighty-six or 86 is American English slang used to indicate that an item is no longer available, traditionally from a food or drinks establishment, or referring to a person or people who are not welcome on the premises.
If you work in a restaurant or bar, you might eighty-six (or “eliminate”) a menu item when you run out of it, or you might eighty-six (or “ cut off ”) a customer who should no longer be served. Eighty-six is still used in this specific context, but it has also entered the general language.
Eighty-six. Why eighty six? Another explanation, also lacking real evidence but at least as plausible is that eighty-six is rhyming slang for ‘nix’. Nix has meant ‘nothing’ as UK and American slang since at least the 19th century.
1. To refuse to serve (an unwelcome customer) at a bar or restaurant. 2. a. To throw out; eject. b. To throw away; discard. [Probably from waiters' and bartenders' slang of the 1920s and 1930s, originally used to indicate that an item on the menu was not available, perhaps rhyming slang for nix .]
To eighty-six something is to cancel it, reject it, or prevent it from coming to fruition, and to eighty-six a person is to eject them, especially from a business premises, or to remove them from a role.
Mar 30, 2023 · Believed to be slang for the word nix, it was initially used as a way of saying that the kitchen was out of something, as revealed in Walter Winchell’s 1933 newspaper column that featured a...
