If you've never worked in the hospitality industry, you probably don't know what the term "86" means. And even if you have years of restaurant experience, it's likely that you've come across different meanings in different places. One way or another, the meaning of each use of 86 essentially comes down to one word: Nope.

Whether this codeword means "we're out of an item" or "we're out of an ingredient" or even "this patron needs to be escorted from the premises" or "this patron can't be served any longer" — 86 is a refusal for one reason or another.

In kitchens specifically, rather than establishments as a whole, chefs 86 ingredients or items from the menu or point of sale, indicating that it's no longer available. These could be seasonal ingredients, low-quantity specials, or just highly popular favorites that have run out halfway through service. The chefs let the waiting staff know, who pass the information on to customers.

The refusal piece is just about the only part of the history and meaning of the term 86 that is agreed upon. A full consensus not only of what it means but also where it comes from remains elusive. The codeword first appeared as a noun in the early 1930s and is associated with soda fountains, known for switching up drinks and ingredients. Merriam Webster states that in May 1933 the New Jersey Courier-Post printed a glossary of soda-fountain slang which included the terms "shoot one" for a coke, "draw one" for a coffee, "echo" for a repeat order, and "86" meaning all out of it. In 2001, an academic article on American speech called "An Uplifting Origin of 86" noted, "Typically cooks in the kitchen would place an 86 on a blackboard next to an entree to signal the wait staff that they should not accept any more orders for that item."