defenestration

noun

1. (countable, uncountable)The act of throwing something or especially someone out of a window, especially lethally.

   “The "Defenestration" at Prague (A.D. 1618). [...] The imperial Austrian Councillors are thrown out of the window of the castle of Hradschin by the enraged Bohemian Deputies [...]”

   “The brook in the gully behind the garden, a trembling trickle most of the time, was tonight a loud torrent that tumbled over itself in its avid truckling to gravity, as it carried through corridors of beech and spruce last years leaves, and some leafless twigs, and a brand-new, unwanted soccer ball that had recently rolled into the water from the sloping lawn after Pnin disposed of it by defenestration.”

   “The Third Defenestration of Prague occurred on 10 March 1948. During the closing stages of the communist takeover in Czechoslovakia, Jan Masaryk, the popular foreign minister and son of Tomáš Masaryk, fell – or more likely was pushed – out of a window.”

   “On September 11, 2001 when NYC's Twin Towers were impacted [...] some occupants trapped above the inferno facing certain death instead jumped from windows to their certain death (self defenestration).”

2. (British, countable, uncountable)The high-profile removal of a person from an organization.

   “Be that as it may, his defenestration was coldly abrupt, and in his place, the Football Association resurrected a veteran manager and former England star in Joe Mercer for seven games.”

   “With Rishi Sunak and Sajid Javid gone from the cabinet, it could all be over for Boris Johnson – although quite how long it will take his enemies to finish him off is not at all clear and his defenestration does not look immediate.”

   “When the president announced Ms. Bondi’s departure from his cabinet on Thursday, he offered the customary false praise and cold comfort that accompany such defenestrations.”

3. (British, countable, figuratively, uncountable)The high-profile removal of a person from an organization.

   “Parrott had described Thursday’s defenestration of Cristiano Ronaldo’s team as the best night of his life, only for Sunday to be yet more gloriously dramatic. The former Tottenham trainee, who plays in the Dutch Eredivisie for AZ Alkmaar, would almost certainly not have started Ireland’s double-header had Roma’s Evan Ferguson not injured an ankle.”

4. (countable, humorous, uncountable)The act of removing the Microsoft Windows operating system from a computer in order to install an alternative one.

   “Defenestration might be an option too. May I recommend Linux?”

   “It's defenestration day in Redmond today. A clearly stunned Microsoft did what it could to pretend that Judge Jackson's findings of fact were "just one step", as [Bill] Gates put said in the prepared statement that he read at a press conference last night, but it was hopeless.”

   “No defenestration here. Ask questions about all aspects of Windows programming, get help on Microsoft technologies covered in Apress books, or provide feedback on any Apress Windows book.”

   “What's needed is defenestration – throwing out the Windows mindset along with Microsoft's licenses and software – but that's not as simple as changing a boot CD or even migrating a whole raft of servers. What's involved is fundamental change both in how IT operates and in what it does.”

   “Traditionally, the verb defenestrate means to throw out of a window. But as Australian companies take their first timid steps towards installing non-proprietary software on corporate desktops, defenestration is starting to be linked to the throwing out of Windows software.”