to dismiss (usually of senior staff, such as a minister, general, bishop, ambassador, etc), kick upstairs
“Mᵐᵉ Verdurin disait : « C'est désolant, je vais téléphoner à Bontemps de faire le nécessaire pour demain, on a encore « caviardé » toute la fin de l'article de Norpois et simplement parce qu'il laissait entendre qu'on avait « limogé » Percin. »” — Mme Verdurin said, “It is deplorable, I shall telephone to Bontemps to do what is necessary to-morrow. They have again ‘censored’ the whole end of Norpois' article simply because he let it be understood that they had ‘dismissed’ Percin.”
Related: limogeage
From Limoges + -er. From the town of Limoges, which was far away from the World War I front and where General Joseph Joffre, Commander-in-Chief of the French forces from 1914 to 1916, consequently sent senior staff whom he considered useless and had relieved from actual command. Attested since 1916.