(dee-FEN-uh-strayt)

Means: To throw someone out a window. These days it also means booting someone out of a job.

Etymology: Latin de- ("out of") + fenestra ("window"). The word took off after the 1618 Defenestration of Prague, when Protestant nobles threw two Catholic officials and their secretary out of a castle window. All three survived, supposedly by landing in a heap of garbage, and the incident helped kick off the Thirty Years' War.

"If he plays Margaritaville one more time, I'm defenestrating that jukebox."

Art Nouveau (about 1890–1910) tried to make iron and glass look like they grew out of the ground: whiplash curves, plant stems, insect wings, and as few straight lines as possible. Hector Guimard's Paris Métro entrances are the classic example. Cast-iron stalks hold up a glass canopy shaped like dragonfly wings, and the hand-lettered "Metropolitain" sign looks drawn rather than printed.

The Golden Gate Bridge's famous color started as primer. The steel arrived coated in red-lead primer, and consulting architect Irving Morrow liked it so much that he pushed to keep a version of it, called "International Orange." The Navy wanted black and yellow stripes so ships could see the bridge. San Francisco came close to getting the world's biggest bumblebee.

My wife put me on a two-beer limit. So now I drink like Congress: every time I hit the limit, I act shocked, call it a crisis, and vote to raise it.

Turn HAIR into BALD in 5 steps, changing one letter at a time. Every step has to be a real word. (Most of us over 40 are already working on this one.)

Answer in tomorrow's issue.