How do you get rid of <defunct> processes? (AT&T UNIXpc)

[Lenny Tropiano]

I don't know how I do it, but sometimes a process terminates abnormally
and it turns into a ZOMBIE <defunct> process.

  F S   UID   PID  PPID  C PRI NI ADR SZ:RSZ   WCHAN TTY  TIME COMD
  1 Z     0 14275 14273240  80  0                     <defunct>
  1 S     0 14273     1  3  21  0  61 22:  0   4157c  w1  0:00 sh

Now I've tried the usual:

$ kill -9 14273 14275

They don't want to die!  Unfortunately they'll stay there until I reboot,
also it shows up in the "[w]" Windows Manager as if it still exists.  I
toggle to that window and all I get is the WORKING ICON.  And the screen
that was there when I exited... But it doesn't want to die, and I don't
want to reboot.  Is there an easier solution?   And how do they get
created in the first place?
						Thanks,
						-Lenny
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