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Eighty-six is a slang term that can mean to throw out, to refuse service to, or to kill. It originated from soda-counter slang in the 1930s and may be related to nix or 86-proof liquor.
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.
Learn the origin and meaning of the American expression 'eighty six', which can mean to run out of something or to get rid of someone. Find out the possible sources of the term and its connection to rhyming slang.
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...
