ejection

Etymology

It is inherited from Middle English ejeccioun,^[2][3] borrowed from Latin ējectiō (“a casting out, banishment, exile”),^[4][2][5][6] perhaps also borrowed from French éjection.^[6][7] The Latin noun of action is formed from ējectus, the past participle of ēiciō (“to throw out, expel”),^[5][3][4] which is made up of ex (“out”) and iaciō (“to throw”), from Proto-Indo-European *ye- (“to throw, impel”).^[6] Anglo-Norman had ejection from the late 13th century, for eviction from a tenement.^[8] It is the noun of eject.^[4][7]

Earliest recorded meaning

Expulsion, banishment: the Middle English Dictionary's first quotations are from about 1450, among them a translation of Higden that tells how the empress Eudoxia procured the ejeccion of John Chrysostom.^[2] The Shorter Oxford dates the word to late Middle English,^[7] while the OED, not using the Middle English evidence, begins with John Knox in 1566, of casting someone out of a place, office or possessions.^[4]

Semantic evolution

From expulsion from a place or office, the word widened in the early 17th century to the physical act of casting something out from within: Cawdrey's Table Alphabeticall (1604) has it, and it was formerly a term of physiology.^[4] Johnson (1755) gave two senses, casting out or expulsion, and in medicine the discharge of anything by vomiting, stool or another outlet.^[9] By 1654 it could also mean the thing ejected, especially by a volcano.^[4][7] Scots law has had an action of ejection, an action to remove an occupier, since at least 1764.^[4][3] The 20th century added the aeronautical sense: the mechanical baling out of a pilot, and the ejection seat, both from 1945.^[4][6][7] Short-lived uses were an outpouring of feeling (1650) and the state of being banished, exile (1655).^[4]

Timeline

• c. 1450 – expulsion, banishment.^[2] The OED's first quotation for this sense is from 1566, in John Knox.^[4]
• 1604 – the action of casting something out from within.^[4]
• 1650 – figurative, an outpouring of emotion (obsolete).^[4]
• 1654 – something ejected, especially by a volcano.^[4]
• 1764 – in Scots law, action of ejection, an action of ejectment.^[4]
• 1945 – the mechanical baling out of a pilot from an aircraft, and the ejection seat.^[4][6]

Meanings

Noun

1. The act or process of ejecting, throwing out or expelling something or someone: the ejection of a spent cartridge, his ejection from the meeting.^[3][7][4]
2. An emergency escape in which a pilot is thrown clear of an aircraft, usually in an ejection seat.^[7][4]
3. Something that has been ejected; ejecta.^[3][7][4]
4. (Scots law) ejectment, an action to remove a person from land or property.^[3][4]

Word family

• nonejection
• ejection seat

Related words

• eject
• ejecta
• ejectment
• ejector
• inject
• reject
• jet

References

1. ^ Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d Kurath, Hans; Kuhn, Sherman M.; Lewis, Robert E., eds. (1952–2001), Middle English Dictionary, Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press; online edition ed. Frances McSparran et al. (2000–2018)
3. ^ a b c d e f Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
4. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
5. ^ a b Klein, Ernest. A Comprehensive Etymological Dictionary of the English Language. 2 vols. Amsterdam: Elsevier, 1966–1967.
6. ^ a b c d e Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
7. ^ a b c d e f g h Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
8. ^ Anglo-Norman Dictionary (AND2), Aberystwyth University, anglo-norman.net (2nd ed., 2005–)
9. ^ Johnson, Samuel (1755), A Dictionary of the English Language, London; 4th ed. 1773; Johnson's Dictionary Online, ed. Beth Rapp Young et al.