eighty-six

• eighty + six

eighty-six

1. The cardinal number immediately following eighty-five and preceding eighty-seven.

• Hindu-Arabic numerals: 86
• Roman numerals: LXXXVI

Unknown for certain. Possibly rhyming slang for nix (“cancel, say no to”) (given by the OED), or possibly part of a code of such numbers created in the 1920s. See also: Wikipedia:86 (term)

eighty-six (third-person singular simple present eighty-sixes, present participle eighty-sixing, simple past and past participle eighty-sixed)

1. (colloquial) To cancel an order for food.

   eighty-six the ham and eggs for table two!

2. (colloquial) To remove an item from the menu.

   eighty-six the lobster bisque - we won't have the lobster delivery until tomorrow.

   "Yes, I'd like the tomato soup." / "I'm sorry sir, that's been eighty-sixed - would you like a salad instead?"

3. (colloquial) To remove or eject, as a disruptive customer.

   Ryan and his friends got too rowdy at the bar, so they were eighty-sixed.

4. (colloquial) To throw out; discard.

   "We finally had to eighty-six that old printer after it jammed one too many times."

   • 2007 January 1, MacAddict, page 25:

     ...Apple eighty-sixed all of its paid moderators...

• nix
• ixnay

• “Eighty-six” in Michael Quinion, Ballyhoo, Buckaroo, and Spuds: Ingenious Tales of Words and Their Origins, Washington, D.C.: Smithsonian Books in association with Penguin Books, 2004, →ISBN.