Definition of "defenestrate"

defenestrate

/dɪˈfɛnɪstɹeɪt/

verb
third-person singular simple present defenestrates, present participle defenestrating, simple past and past participle defenestrated
1. (transitive) To eject or throw (someone or something) from or through a window.
  Quotations
  I defenestrated a clock to see if time flies!
  1998 September 25, Lane Smith, quoted in "TFK Q&A: Lane Smith and Jon Scieszka", in Time for Kids
2. (transitive) To throw out; to remove or dismiss (someone) from a position of power or authority.
  Quotations
  The cultural historians of science 'feel the need to defenestrate science, or at least take it off its pedestal' (Pumfrey. Rossi & Slawinski 1991. p. 3).
  1998, Barry J. Fraser, Kenneth George Tobin, International Handbook of Science Education, volume 2
  Ever since he helped to defenestrate Richard Nixon in 1974, Mr Woodward has been a sort of super-reporter ...
  2001, The Economist, volume 381, numbers 8498-8501, page 42
  According to the guidebooks, they do it so strenuously that women would very much like to defenestrate the custom.
  2004, Mary Carey, Kim Berquist, Writing from a Small Country: Anthology of the Creative Writing Club, Luxembourg
3. (computing, transitive, humorous, slang) To remove a Windows operating system from a computer.
  Quotations
  This posting was written on a Windows 95 PC, / Defenestrate it immediately. Install Linux. :-)
  1998 December 17, Darren Salt <news@youmustbejoking.demon.com.uk>, "Re: Coding speccy games in the good 'ole days", message-ID <48B60EA729%news@youmustbejoking.demon.com.uk>, comp.sys.sinclair, Usenet
  ◦ Enable one-click uninstalls of unwanted OS and application features with a Defenestrate icon.
  2001 July 21, "Packet Rat" (pseudonym), "Judge Rat calls for a Microsoft defenestration", on GCN: Government Computer News
  Now of course people who want freedom shouldn't use Windows at all, you've got to defenestrate your computer, which means either you throw Windows out of the computer, or you throw the computer out the window.
  2007 May 16, Richard Stallman, speech, Free Software and Beyond: Human Rights in the Use of Software and Other Published Works

Definition of "defenestrate"

defenestrate

verb

Quotations

Quotations

Quotations