https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/86_(term)

Eighty-six or 86 is American English slang used primarily in the hospitality industry and sometimes in the military.

In the hospitality industry, it is 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. Its etymology is unknown, but the term seems to have been coined in the 1920s or 1930s.

Military personnel might use "86" informally to refer to scrapping equipment (e.g., "That old radio got 86'd") or ending a plan or mission (e.g., "The op was 86'd due to bad weather"). It's not an official term in military doctrine or manuals, but it's part of the informal jargon that soldiers, sailors, or airmen might pick up and use, influenced by broader civilian language.

Etymology

The address of Chumley's—86 Bedford Street, West Village—is one of several origin stories of the term

There are numerous theories about the origin of the term. Possible origins include:

Rhyming slang for nix.[1]

Part of the jargon used by soda jerks. Walter Winchell wrote about this in 1933, in his syndicated On Broadway column.[2] In this, the code 13 meant that a boss was around, 81 was a glass of water and 86 meant "all out of it".[3] Professor Harold Bentley of Columbia University studied soda jerk jargon and reported other numeric codes such as 95 for a customer leaving without paying.[4]

Author Jef Klein theorized that the bar Chumley's at 86 Bedford Street in the West Village of Lower Manhattan was the source. His book The History and Stories of the Best Bars of New York claims that the police would call Chumley's bar during Prohibition before making a raid and tell the bartender to "86" his customers, meaning that they should exit out the 86 Bedford Street door, while the police would come to the Pamela Court entrance.[5]

Usage

The term eighty-six was used in restaurants and bars, according to most late twentieth-century American slang dictionaries.[6] It is often used in food and drink services to indicate that an item is no longer available or that a customer should be ejected.[6] Beyond this context, it is generally used with the meaning to 'get rid of' someone or something.[6]

The Merriam-Webster dictionary defines the term as to "refuse to serve (a customer)", or to "get rid of" or "throw out" someone or something.[7] The Oxford English Dictionary says it may be used as a noun or verb.[1] As a noun, "In restaurants and bars, an expression indicating that the supply of an item is exhausted, or that a customer is not to be served; also, a customer to be refused service. Also transferred."[1] As a transitive verb derived from the noun, it means "to eject or debar (a person) from premises; to reject or abandon".[1] The OED gives examples of usage from 1933 to 1981;[1] for example, in The Candidate, a media adviser says to Robert Redford's character, "OK, now, for starters, we got to cut your hair and eighty-six the sideburns".[1]

According to Cassell's Dictionary of Slang, "to 86" also means "to kill, to murder; to execute judicially," likely referring to the size of a standard grave being 2.5 feet wide by 8 feet long and 6 feet deep.[8][9] Other slang dictionaries confirm this definition.[10][11][12]…