English
defenestrate
Pronunciation
  • (British) IPA: /dɪˈfɛnɪstɹeɪt/
  • (America) IPA: /dəˈfɛnɪstɹeɪt/
Verb

defenestrate (defenestrates, present participle defenestrating; past and past participle defenestrated)

  1. (transitive) To eject or throw (someone or something) from a window; compare transfenestrate.
    • 1998 September 25, Lane Smith, quoted in "[http://www.timeforkids.com/TFK/teachers/wr/article/0,27972,88538,00.html TFK Q&A: Lane Smith and Jon Scieszka]", in Time for Kids:
      I defenestrated a clock to see if time flies!
  2. (transitive) To throw out; to remove or dismiss (someone) from a position of power or authority.
    • 1998, Barry J. Fraser and Kenneth George Tobin, International Handbook of Science Education, Volume 2,
      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).
    • 2001, The Economist, Volume 381, Issues 8498-8501, Page 42,
      Ever since he helped to defenestrate Richard Nixon in 1974, Mr Woodward has been a sort of super-reporter ...
  3. (computing, transitive, humorous, slang) To remove a Windows operating system from a computer.
    • 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 :
      This posting was written on a Windows 95 PC,
      Defenestrate it immediately. Install Linux. :-)
    • 2001 July 21, "Packet Rat" (pseudonym), "Judge Rat calls for a Microsoft defenestration ↗", on GCN: Government Computer News:
      ◦ Enable one-click uninstalls of unwanted OS and application features with a Defenestrate icon.
    • 2007 May 16, Richard Stallman, speech, Free Software and Beyond: Human Rights in the Use of Software and Other Published Works,
      Now of course people who want freedom shouldn't use Windows at all, you've got to defenestrate your computer, which mean either you throw Windows out of the computer, or you throw the computer out the window.
Translations

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