rubout - What does it mean?

Noun

(en-noun)

(slang) An assassination.

*{{quote-news|year=2007|date=June 8|author=Holland Cotter|title=Quirks and Attitude to Burn|work=New York Times citation

|passage=This high-concept take on low life includes a concealed lethal weapon (by Claire Fontaine); photographic evidence of a rubout (by Torbjorn Rodland); and cryptic, possibly sinister messages galore from Tauba Auerbach, Daniel Knorr, David Lieske and Matias Faldbakken. }}

(computing|uncountable|dated) backspace

* 1990 , Michael D. Harrison, Harold Thimbleby, Formal methods in human-computer interaction (page 130)

A direct manipulation editor would support, for example, a single rubout key that uses the cursor to find the appropriate character for deletion...