# Defenestrate -- Specific words **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [March 15, 2008, 4:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/defenestrate-specific-words/441445 "2008-03-15T04:11:17Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Johnny\_L.A](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnny_l.a/32/1084_2.png) [@Johnny\_L.A](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_L.A)\ **Post date:** [March 15, 2008, 4:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/defenestrate-specific-words/441445/1 "2008-03-15T04:11:17Z")
Defenestration is the act of throwing someone or something out of a window. That’s pretty specific. Do we have a word for throwing something out of a door? Plummet means to fall straight down, or to fall suddenly and steeply. But the fall can be from anywhere. As far as I know we don’t have a word that means specifically to plummet from a tall building, as opposed to plummeting from a cliff. Do we have any other words that are specific in the way defenestrate is? ---
**Author:** ![squeegee](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/squeegee/32/14537_2.png) [@squeegee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/squeegee)\ **Post date:** [March 15, 2008, 4:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/defenestrate-specific-words/441445/2 "2008-03-15T04:52:02Z")
Yeah, I’d wondered about defenestrate in much the same way. Its like having a single word that means: “a tall, brunette guy shooting a short, red-haired guy on a Tuesday with an orange gun at exactly 17.25 paces, and missing.” Wiki actually has a pretty good page on [Defenestration](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Defenestrate), including the unforgettable [Defenestrations of Prague](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Defenestrations_of_Prague). ---
**Author:** ![TheLoadedDog](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/35a633/32.png) [@TheLoadedDog](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TheLoadedDog)\ **Post date:** [March 15, 2008, 5:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/defenestrate-specific-words/441445/3 "2008-03-15T05:15:19Z")
Not so much window or door-specific, but a lot of the throwing words seem pretty specific in their own way: hurl, bowl, punt, toss, heave… Come to think of it a lot of verbs to do with bodily actions seem to fall into that category. Running, for example… ---
**Author:** ![Cunctator](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/43a26b/32.png) [@Cunctator](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cunctator)\ **Post date:** [March 15, 2008, 5:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/defenestrate-specific-words/441445/4 "2008-03-15T05:34:22Z")
I remember when I first heard about the Defenestration of Prague in history at school I had this image of crowds of people going around the city, removing all of the windows from the buildings. Throwing people out of windows seemed to me more like exfenestration. ---
**Author:** ![Diogenes\_the\_Cynic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e99b99/32.png) [@Diogenes\_the\_Cynic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Diogenes_the_Cynic)\ **Post date:** [March 15, 2008, 5:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/defenestrate-specific-words/441445/5 "2008-03-15T05:56:38Z")
[QUOTE=Cunctator] I remember when I first heard about the Defenestration of Prague in history at school I had this image of crowds of people going around the city, removing all of the windows from the buildings. Throwing people out of windows seemed to me more like exfenestration. [/QUOTE] In Latin, the prefix _de_ means “down from,” so it does make sense etymologically. There is a word for throwing someone off a cliff – “descopulate” (and I know I’m an unbelievable mega-geek for knowing that). For a tall building, I don’t know but I suppose we could stick a “de-” in front of the Latin word for tower, _turris_ and come up with something like “deturrinate,” but I don’t know if there’s anything in Webster’s. I do know that “abacinate” means to burn somebody’s eyes out with a red hot poker if that helps. ---
**Author:** ![VinylTurnip](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/b2d939/32.png) [@VinylTurnip](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/VinylTurnip)\ **Post date:** [March 15, 2008, 6:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/defenestrate-specific-words/441445/6 "2008-03-15T06:00:52Z")
[QUOTE=Johnny L.A.] Defenestration is the act of throwing someone or something out of a window. That’s pretty specific. Do we have a word for throwing something out of a door? [/QUOTE] Deportation. ---
**Author:** ![Celyn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/9dc877/32.png) [@Celyn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Celyn)\ **Post date:** [March 15, 2008, 6:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/defenestrate-specific-words/441445/7 "2008-03-15T06:08:46Z")
[QUOTE=Diogenes the Cynic] … I do know that “abacinate” means to burn somebody’s eyes out with a red hot poker if that helps. [/QUOTE] Wow, now there’s a handy word to know. 😃 I wonder how soon I can find a way to drop that into conversation. ---
**Author:** ![Diogenes\_the\_Cynic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e99b99/32.png) [@Diogenes\_the\_Cynic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Diogenes_the_Cynic)\ **Post date:** [March 15, 2008, 6:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/defenestrate-specific-words/441445/8 "2008-03-15T06:24:58Z")
[QUOTE=Vinyl Turnip] Deportation. [/QUOTE] _Porta_ means “gate,” specifically a city gate, ergo to throw somebody out of the city was to “de port” them (and to bring trade goods in and out of the city was to “export” and “import” them). A door to a house is _ianua_ (or if you prefer, the more anglicized “janua”) hence January is the “door” to a new year and a doorkeeper is a “janitor” but I think a verb meaning to throw someone out the door of a building would have to be contrived as something like “dejanuate.” ---
**Author:** ![picunurse](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/7bcc69/32.png) [@picunurse](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/picunurse)\ **Post date:** [March 15, 2008, 6:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/defenestrate-specific-words/441445/9 "2008-03-15T06:36:58Z")
Where as, fenestrated is a hole or window cut in a cloth to isolate a field. As in fenestrated surgical drape. ---
**Author:** ![Jragon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/e19b73/32.png) [@Jragon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jragon)\ **Post date:** [March 15, 2008, 7:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/defenestrate-specific-words/441445/10 "2008-03-15T07:19:59Z")
I tried to use two part one “this AND this” but some of them are just basic actions we gave a word to so many of them aren’t impressive, but if you want to skip some quincux is a good and oddly specific one.: akimbo of the arms, with the hands on the hips and elbows bent outward anadromous of fish, migrating up rivers from the sea to spawn in fresh water. bastinado torture by beating on the soles of the feet. bibcock a faucet that is bent downward dandle to dance (a child) on one’s knees; the action taken by a dandler. dottle the plug of unburned tobacco left in a pipe after smoking. draggle make wet and dirty by dragging on the ground. factotum employee or assistant who does just about everything. floccinaucinihilipilification the categorizing of something as worthless. (okay not really I jsut REALLY wanted to put that one in here) genuflect bend the knee and lower the body, especially in reverence. gowpen two hands placed together to form a bowl-shape; also, the amount that can be contained in a pair of cupped hands. grimthorpe remodel or restore an old building without proper grounding or knowledge of its authentic character or without exercising care to remain faithful to its original quality and uniqueness liripipe a long scarf or cord attached to and hanging from a hood. malinger pretend to be ill in order to avoid work or shirk duty. nosocomephrenia depression due to a prolonged hospital stay. (though this one’s about as fair as listing claustrophobia really) obdormition numbness caused by pressure on a nerve, as when one’s foot is “asleep.” omphaloskepsis contemplation of one’s navel. ovoviviparous producing eggs that hatch within the female’s body without obtaining nourishment from it. pandiculation the stretching that accompanies yawning. quincunx the pattern of five objects arranged such that four of the five objects form a square, while the fifth is positioned in the middle. spanghew to cause a frog or toad to fly up in the air tonsure the shaving of the head of those entering certain priesthoods or monastic orders; also, the part of the head left bare after such a shaving. ---
**Author:** ![Crown\_Prince\_of\_Irony](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/ed655f/32.png) [@Crown\_Prince\_of\_Irony](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Crown_Prince_of_Irony)\ **Post date:** [March 15, 2008, 8:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/defenestrate-specific-words/441445/11 "2008-03-15T08:53:02Z")
So, in other words, [Sniglets](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sniglet). 😃 ---
**Author:** ![bbs2k](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/e495f1/32.png) [@bbs2k](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bbs2k)\ **Post date:** [March 15, 2008, 8:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/defenestrate-specific-words/441445/12 "2008-03-15T08:59:12Z")
I wish there was some ‘ebonic’ expression for an extremely curvaceous female behind. Describing women who usually have a small waist that violently explodes into round and juicy posterior. Also including other characteristics like moderately wide hips and a large amount of booty cleavage. If _only_ there was a word for this. ---
**Author:** ![Diogenes\_the\_Cynic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e99b99/32.png) [@Diogenes\_the\_Cynic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Diogenes_the_Cynic)\ **Post date:** [March 15, 2008, 3:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/defenestrate-specific-words/441445/13 "2008-03-15T15:39:36Z")
[QUOTE=bbs2k] I wish there was some ‘ebonic’ expression for an extremely curvaceous female behind. Describing women who usually have a small waist that violently explodes into round and juicy posterior. Also including other characteristics like moderately wide hips and a large amount of booty cleavage. If _only_ there was a word for this. [/QUOTE] I believe the word is “badonkadonk.” ---
**Author:** ![Spice\_Weasel](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/spice_weasel/32/5435_2.png) [@Spice\_Weasel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spice_Weasel)\ **Post date:** [March 15, 2008, 4:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/defenestrate-specific-words/441445/14 "2008-03-15T16:03:16Z")
[QUOTE=Crown Prince of Irony] So, in other words, [Sniglets](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sniglet). 😃 [/QUOTE] I always wondered where ‘‘Pediddel’’ came from. My husband and I once found a Spanish verb that means ‘‘to spread one’s legs open very wide.’’ Wish to hell I could remember it. ---
**Author:** ![Chefguy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chefguy/32/138_2.png) [@Chefguy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chefguy)\ **Post date:** [March 15, 2008, 5:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/defenestrate-specific-words/441445/15 "2008-03-15T17:21:24Z")
[QUOTE=Johnny L.A.] Defenestration is the act of throwing someone or something out of a window. That’s pretty specific. Do we have a word for throwing something out of a door? [/quote] Bounced. > [@Johnny L.A.](#): > > As far as I know we don’t have a word that means specifically to plummet from a tall building, as opposed to plummeting from a cliff. Suicide. ---
**Author:** ![Lissla\_Lissar](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/8491ac/32.png) [@Lissla\_Lissar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lissla_Lissar)\ **Post date:** [March 15, 2008, 5:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/defenestrate-specific-words/441445/16 "2008-03-15T17:23:50Z")
Does anyone else have _The Superior Person’s Book of Words_? It’s awesome. Nostrificate- to accept as one’s own. Napiform- turnip-shaped Chretamaphobia- feaqr of money Jumentous- of or pertaining to the smell of horse urine Those are the ones I can remember off the top of my head. And there’s an Ojibway word I love, _quaewae_, which means ‘spear fishing at night by women with lanterns’. It’s a hell of a portmanteau word. ---
**Author:** ![Jragon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/e19b73/32.png) [@Jragon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jragon)\ **Post date:** [March 15, 2008, 5:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/defenestrate-specific-words/441445/17 "2008-03-15T17:49:44Z")
[QUOTE=bbs2k] I wish there was some ‘ebonic’ expression for an extremely curvaceous female behind. Describing women who usually have a small waist that violently explodes into round and juicy posterior. Also including other characteristics like moderately wide hips and a large amount of booty cleavage. If _only_ there was a word for this. [/QUOTE] Callipygian and Steatopygic? ---
**Author:** ![3acresandatruck](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/3/e79b87/32.png) [@3acresandatruck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/3acresandatruck)\ **Post date:** [March 15, 2008, 5:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/defenestrate-specific-words/441445/18 "2008-03-15T17:51:57Z")
[QUOTE=Lissla Lissar] And there’s an Ojibway word I love, _quaewae_, which means ‘spear fishing at night by women with lanterns’. It’s a hell of a portmanteau word. [/QUOTE] If you like wierd fishing words, try ‘noodling’. That’s a way of catching channel catfish by hand: you shove your hand into a catfish hole, it bites your hand and hangs on as you pull it out. (I _really_ mean you in there, too…I don’t do it.) But, Missouri’s actually had an experimental noodling season. ---
**Author:** ![rowrrbazzle](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rowrrbazzle/32/414_2.png) [@rowrrbazzle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/rowrrbazzle)\ **Post date:** [March 15, 2008, 8:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/defenestrate-specific-words/441445/19 "2008-03-15T20:39:54Z")
For Y2K, a simple techique called “windowing” was used. When I was working on that, I came up with a motto: We are Y2K Borg. Resistance is futile. You will be fenestrated. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Idlewild](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/8491ac/32.png) [@Idlewild](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Idlewild)\ **Post date:** [March 15, 2008, 11:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/defenestrate-specific-words/441445/20 "2008-03-15T23:37:39Z")
[QUOTE=Lissla Lissar] Does anyone else have _The Superior Person’s Book of Words_? It’s awesome. Nostrificate- to accept as one’s own. Napiform- turnip-shaped Chretamaphobia- feaqr of money Jumentous- of or pertaining to the smell of horse urine Those are the ones I can remember off the top of my head. And there’s an Ojibway word I love, _quaewae_, which means ‘spear fishing at night by women with lanterns’. It’s a hell of a portmanteau word. [/QUOTE] I had this book when I was in high school. We used to throw around napiform all the time. Also, I think it had groak, which meant someone who waits around hoping to be offered food when you’re eating. This is a _surprisingly_ useful word when you have a teenaged brother with lots of hungry friends. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/defenestrate-specific-words/441445.md?page=2)