When I was in the USA in the early 1980s, many people used a slang expression which they could not explain. Its was “86” to indicate something was gone, none left, defunct, finished. For example, the Philadelphia Steak is 86ed meaning off the menu (I was a waiter for a short time).
Any ideas? Anyone use it these days?
I love this article. No attempt to be definitive but heaps of wild speculation about the origin.
I like the idea of it being a Military term for AWOL, i.e. UCMJ Sub Chapter X Article 86
Here’s where I first heard the term.
As for the definition, I know it to mean “banned.” Usually something along the lines of “that dumbass got wasted and made a fool of himself and got 86’ed from the bar” is how I’ve heard it. Never heard it used in reference to something other than a person no longer being welcome. If someone were to use it when talking about a menu item, I would understand what they meant, would just be the first time I’d heard it used that way. As for origin, I have no clue.
I won’t even speculate as to where the term came from, but the place I’ve aways heard it used most often is in restaurants.
In a diner, if a patron says, “I’ll have the cheeseburger, but without onions,” the waitress will jot down “86 onions” or call out to the cook “One cheeseburger, 86 the onions.”
“86” is often used as a verb, meaning “cancel that” or “get rid of that.”
Wow team, that was quick! I’m grateful and impressed - thankyou. Perhaps it is a restaurant term because we used it normally and often in Denver. I thought it was a gridiron (American football) term but nobody working with me knew. Appears to be much older than expected.
Another mystery solved. 
Now…zip guns…??
The irony is that RU486 makes an actual question.
Don’t forget Maxwell Smart was Agent 86.
Numerical slang from hash houses/soda fountains. Earliest cite we have is from 1933, found by Barry Popik.
She never did make her debut
He never made it to class
Shes eighty-sixed from the chart room
Hes twenty nine and pushin thirty real fast
Jimmy Buffet, Cliches
As been said, it means that something is unavailable; and by extension that someone or something is banned or excluded.
Whole mess of information on this Snopes page. Earliest mention appears to agree with samclem’s cite above.
I like Cecil’s rhyming slang explanation. But if there’s too much rhyming slang and you end up with sentences like: “It nearly knocked me off me plates: he was wearing a syrup! So I got straight on the dog to me trouble, and said I couldn’t believe me minces…”
Zip guns are improvised firearms usually fashioned out of commonly available materials and so named, I presume, because they can be made quickly and easily.
86? No idea.