eighty-six

From 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) and 86.

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

1. Alternative form of 86.
   • 2025 May 16, Edward Helmore, “What does ‘8647’ really mean? Not what Trump’s supporters are saying”, in The Guardian‎^[1]:

     Equipment on a warship set to be upgraded or disposed of was given the code AT-6, or phonetically “eighty-six”.

• deep six
• nix
• ixnay

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