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

A practitioner still needs to be choosy, though: a recent investigation by the London Times revealed that eighty-six per cent of the rivers in England contained pollution levels exceeding current E.U. standards.

From The New Yorker ● Jan. 20, 2020

Chances are that it’s in the Santa Monica Mountains national park, eighty-six per cent of which burned in the Woolsey Fire.

From The New Yorker ● Nov. 11, 2019

For the past few decades, church attendance in Poland has been declining; still, eighty-six per cent of Polish citizens identify as Catholic.

From The New Yorker ● Oct. 22, 2019

“I can’t disregard! I just set up the GoFundMe. It’s got, like, eighty-six bucks in there already.”

From "A Heart in a Body in the World" by Deb Caletti