Does your library give you access to OED online? First use appears to be wrist-watch by R.S.S. Baden-Powell in 1897. Clock goes back to 1370! Watch as an alarm goes back to 1440, but in the pocket sense of “a small time piece” only to 1590. I think of the inside having a clockwork mechanism, but:
![ON SUCCESSIVE VISITS TO THE CITY, I GREW TO KNOW THE NEIGHBORHOOD.
THIS IS CHUMLEY'S.
DAD AND I USED TO COME DRINK HERE.
IT'S A BAR?
HOW COME THERE'S NO SIGN!
YOU JUST HAVE TO KNOW ABOUT IT.
NEAT.
YEARS LATER, ON AN EVENING OF BAR-HOPPING, I ENTERED THIS ESTABLISHMENT WITH A GANG OF LESBIAN FRIENDS.
COVER'S FIFTEEN DOLLARS, LADIES.
FIFTEEN DOLLARS?!
WE LEFT, TOO NAIVE TO REALIZE WE'D BEEN EIGHTY-SIXED. I DIDN'T EVEN KNOW THE TERM EIGHTY-SIX. WHEN I DID LEARN IT, MY RETROACTIVE MORTIFICATION WAS SOFTENED BY THE KNOWLEDGE THAT I'D TAKEN PART IN SUCH A LEXICOGRAPHICAL EVENT.
Image of dictionary definition for eighty-six: To refuse to serve (an unwelcome customer) at a bar or restaurant. 2a. To throw out; eject. b. To throw away; discard. [Perhaps after Chumley's bar and restaurant at 86 Bedford Street in Greenwich Village, New York City]](https://cdn.bsky.app/img/feed_thumbnail/plain/did:plc:6gcn6vk7zfceklhdgfddujvq/bafkreidlz5qjspetmfnsyxkjvcg6b6h7zst2fecogsdmvlftvqpgaat42e)
