[ad. L. ēject-āre, freq. of ējicĕre to throw out, f. ē out + jacĕre to throw; or directly f. ēject- ppl. stem of ējicĕre. As in many other Eng. vbs. identical in form with L. ppl. stems, the precise formation is somewhat doubtful; the senses are derived partly from ējicĕre, partly from ējectāre.]
1. trans. To throw out from within.
1607. Topsell, Four-f. Beasts, 249. Seeth the same till all the scumme or earthy substance thereof be eiected.
1644. Evelyn, Mem. (1857), I. 62. In the Queen’s Garden is a Diana ejecting a fountain.
1646. Sir T. Browne, Pseud. Ep., III. xxii. 165. To reduce that indigestible substance [gold] into such a forme as may not be ejected by seidge.
1807. Med. Jrnl., XVII. 221. He died … while endeavouring to eject saliva.
1830. Lyell, Princ. Geol. (1875), II. II. xxxiii. 217. If stones are thrown into the Crater they are instantly ejected.
b. transf. and fig.; esp. To dart forth, emit (flames, light, etc.).
1598. B. Jonson, Ev. Man in Hum., II. iii. Every look or glance mine eyes ejects [1601 mine eye objects].
1630. Drayton, Muses Elyz. Nym., 78. The Carbunckle … a flaming light And radiency eiecteth.
1620. Quarles, Jonah (1638), 35. His home-bred stomack’s curb’d or quite ejected.
1738. Brooke, Jerusalem Deliv., iii. 10. His arms and eager eyes ejecting flame … Tancred came.
1742. Young, Nt. Th., I. 258. How groaning hospitals eject their dead!
2. To expel, drive out (by force or with indignity) from any place or position.
1555. Eden, Decades W. Ind., III. VI. (Arb.), 162. Al the barbarous Kynges & Idolatours beinge eiected.
1607. Shaks., Cor., III. i. 287. To dispatch This Viporous Traitor; to eiect him hence Were but one danger.
1671. Milton, P. R., I. 414. Ejected, emptyed, gazed, unpityed, shun’d, A spectacle of ruin or of scorn.
1726. Swift, Bec’s Birthday, Wks. 1819, XIV. 542. If the gout should seize the head, Doctors pronounce the patient dead; But if they can … eject it to th’ extremest parts, [etc.].
1828. D’Israeli, Charles I., I. viii. 270. Those inferior minds, who had ejected the master-spirit from their councils.
1863. Fr. A. Kemble, Resid. in Georgia, 57. They [two free black preachers] have lately been ejected from the place.
† b. In pass. with omission of from. Obs. (Cf. to be banished the country.)
1657. J. Smith, Myst. Rhet., 64. And for that they would be justified by the works of the Law, were ejected the house of God.
1660. T. Watson, in Spurgeon, Treas. Dav., Ps. xvi. 11. Austin saith ‘Lord … if I might see thy face one day; but alas! were it only a day, then to be ejected heaven.’
3. To expel from a dignity or office. Also, To turn out, evict (a person) from property or possessions; esp. in Law.
1570–6. Lambarde, Peramb. Kent (1826), 229. The Abbat … eiected the Kings Clarke.
1623. Bingham, Xenophon, 127. That I might be reuenged vpon them, that had eiected vs out of our patrimony.
1653. Baxter, Chr. Concord, 117. If they can prove their Ministers fit to be ejected, let them there prove it.
1794. S. Williams, Vermont, 217. When the executive officers came to eject the inhabitants, from their houses and lands.
1836. H. Rogers, J. Howe, ii. (1863), 18. [The elder Howe] was not the man for Loughborough, and he was consequently ejected.
1879. Froude, Cæsar, iii. 20. He had ejected disreputable senators from the Curia.
