To forcibly
eject someone from a
business or
house. Not
escorting them out, not
asking them
politely to
leave--this is taking the
guy and
pitching him out the
door and into the
street. This is done either to someone who is making a big
problem for the owners of the
business or
property or to someone who doesn't
deserve the
respect of being allowed to leave on their own.
The
term derives from the practice of throwing
homeless people or
beggars out of
restaurants or
businesses, probably during the
Depression, though the term may have appeared earlier. You didn't have to be
nice to someone who didn't have the
money or
influence to
hurt your
business, so
restaurant owners or
bouncers were
free to
toss them out onto the
sidewalk.