ejection
(ɪˈdʒɛkʃən)
[ad. L. ējectiōn-em, n. of action f. ējicĕre: see eject v.]
1. a. The action of casting out from within. Formerly applied spec. in Physiology (see quot. 1751).
| 1613 R. C. Table Alph. (ed. 3) Eiection, a casting forth. 1636 Healey Epictetus' Man., Cebes 135 Her owne receipt..which purgeth out all their ingulphed evils, as by vomit or ejection. 1652 French Yorksh. Spa viii. 74 There is no ejection of their excrements by stool for two or three dayes. 1751 Chambers Cycl., Ejection, the act of throwing out or discharging anything at some of the emunctories; as by stool, vomiting or the like. 1813 Eustace Tour Italy i. (R.) The vast ejection of ashes..must have left a large void in its [Vesuvius'] centre. 1862 Darwin Fertil. Orchids vi. 260, I pricked deeply the column..without causing the ejection of this pollinium. 1881 Stokes in Nature No. 625. 597 The ejection of gas from the body of the sun. |
b. concr. Something ejected; spec. by a volcano.
| 1654 Gayton Fest. Notes 158 The Apothecary sware he smelt him [the mouse] comming by the scent of the ejection. 1794 Sullivan View Nat. II. 197 One unclassed volcanic ejection..the roche rouge in Velay, in France. 1833 Lyell Princ. Geol. III. 197 The ejections in this place entirely conceal from view the stratified rocks of the country. |
† c. fig. An outgoing of emotion. Obs.
| 1655 H. Vaughan Silex Scint. i. 36 What thin Ejections, Cold affections. |
d. Aeronaut. The mechanically contrived ‘baling out’ of a pilot from an aeroplane or space-craft. Also attrib., as ejection seat, on which this is effected. Cf. ejector 2.
| 1945 Aeroplane 16 Nov. 569/1 It was the first German aeroplane to employ a pilot-ejection seat... The single-seat cockpit is positioned well forward and the pilot ejection seat is of the explosive cartridge type. 1946 Aeroplane Spotter 10 Aug. 182/1 The first automatic high-speed ‘baling-out’ ejection by Mr. Bernard Lynch..on..July 24. 1956 W. A. Heflin U.S. Air Force Dict. 184/2 Ejection chute, cockpit capsule, seat, seat-trainer. 1967 New Scientist 27 Apr. 195/1 Ejection seats were omitted from the multi-man Voskhod spacecraft. |
2. a. A casting out or expulsion from a particular place or position; also from office or possessions.
| 1566 Knox Hist. Ref. Wks. 1846 I. 349 He..did entreat of the ejectioun of the byaris and the sellaris furth of the Tempill of Jerusalem. 1627 Hakewill Apol. i. i. §1 [Adam and Eve's] Creation and Ejection. 1651 Hobbes Leviath. iv. xlv. 356 Exorcisme (that is to say, of ejection of Devills by Conjuration). 1704 Hearne Duct. Hist. (1714) I. 417 To the Syracusians he gave Laws upon the ejection of their King. 1765 Johnson Pref. Shaks. (R.) Some of these alterations are only the ejection of a word for one that appeared to him more elegant. 1853 Marsden Early Purit. 48 The ejection of many good men immediately followed. |
† b. The state of being banished, exile. rare.
| 1655–60 Stanley Hist. Philos. (1701) 49/1 The People with whom he [the son of Periander] lived in his ejection. |
c. In Scotch Law. action of ejection: = ejectment 2. letters of ejection: see quot.
| 1764 Erskine Princ. Sc. Law 427 Actions of spuilzie, ejection and intrusion are penal. Ibid. 464 If one be condemned..to quit the possession of lands, and refuses..letters of ejection are granted..ordaining the Sheriff to eject him. |
† 3. = ecbole 2. Obs.
| 1603 Holland Plutarch's Mor. 1257 Polymnestus..first made the drawing out of the note longer, and the..ejection thereof much greater than before. |