eighty-six

American  

[ey-tee-siks] / ˈeɪ tiˈsɪks /

Or 86

noun

1. a cardinal number, 80 plus 6.

2. a symbol for this number, as 86 or LXXXVI.

3. a set of this many persons or things.

4. Slang. a customer considered undesirable or unwelcome and refused service at a bar or restaurant.

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adjective

1. amounting to 86 in number.

2. Slang. sold out; out of stock.

verb (used with object)

Slang.

1. to refuse to serve (an undesirable or unwelcome customer) at a bar or restaurant.

2. to reject; discard.

Etymology

Origin of eighty-six

First recorded in 1930–35, as slang term in bars and restaurants; sense “refuse” perhaps as rhyming slang for nix ¹

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

eighty-six

The hedge fund that had bought the company had already tried to eighty-six Freds’ rosy sautéed chicken livers over sourdough toast, proving once again that money can’t buy taste.

From New York Times ● Jul. 20, 2021

Doug, at eighty-six, is an example of a healthy man.

From Salon ● Sep. 15, 2019

In 2016, the last time he ran for Congress, O’Rourke won eighty-six per cent of the vote.

From The New Yorker ● May 27, 2019

One of the positive by-products of the revolution has been soaring literacy rates—from thirty-seven per cent in 1976 to eighty-six per cent in 2016, according to UNESCO.

From The New Yorker ● Feb. 10, 2019

When he agrees, Uncle Cent finds him a job in Dordrecht, a town eighty-six miles from Pa and Ma in Etten and, even better for Vincent, only about thirty miles from Theo in The Hague.

From "Vincent and Theo: The Van Gogh Brothers" by Deborah Heiligman