Word of the Day

Monday, September 08, 2003

defenestrate

\dee-FEN-uh-strayt\ , transitive verb;

To throw out of a window.

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Quotes:

Some of his apparent chums . . . would still happily defenestrate him if they caught him near a window.

-- Andrew Marr, "No option bar the radical one", Independent, July 5, 1994

I defenestrated a clock to see if time flies!

-- Lane Smith, quoted in "Who's News", Time for Kids, September 25, 1998

A woman, driven to fury by the manner in which her lover prefers to lavish his attention on a match on the telly rather than her, starts to throw his possessions out of the window. He's finally moved to stop her when she tries to defenestrate his new Puma boots.

-- Jim White, "Budgets substantial enough to buy most of the clubs in the Endsleigh", Independent, April 6, 1996

Origin:

Defenestrate is derived from Latin de-, "out of" + fenestra, "window." The noun form is defenestration.