frightening the janitor out of one year's growth

[skyhigh0]

hello my friends
here is a sentence that i dont know its meaning,and nobody could help me with this.please tell me if you know the meaning.
"as the closet was opened,the corpse fell out,frightening the janitor out of one year's growth"
thanks in advance

[Gillnetter]

hello my friends
here is a sentence that i dont know it's meaning,and nobody could help me with this.please tell me if you know the meaning.
"as the closet was opened,the corpse fell out,frightening the janitor out of one year's growth"
thanks in advance

The janitor was so frightened that he will die earlier than if this event had not happened. Growth really means to get bigger or taller. A child will grow and, thus, has many years of growth. Growth, the way it is written here, means life.