Word of the Day: Defenestrate

defenestrate \dee-FEN-uh-strayt\, transitive verb:

To throw out of a window.

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

From my high school French, I know that "fenetre" means "window" so this word now makes sense. But honestly, did you know that this word even existed in English? Hmmm...I have to mull over whether I have ever defenestrated (or wanted to) something........perhaps an annoying alarm clock? A importunate infant (see April 8)???

At Sixth and Howard in San Francisco "Defenestration":

• 0
• Vote