Launch threw vermin skyward?
I believe the answer is:
start up
'launch' is the definition.
(thesaurus)
'threw vermin skyward?' is the wordplay.
'threw vermin' becomes 'start' (I can't explain this - if you can you should give a lot more credence to this answer).
'skyward?' becomes 'up' ('up' can be similar in meaning to 'skyward').
'start'+'up'='START-UP'
Can you help me to learn more?
(Other definitions for start up that I've seen before include "Set in motion" , "Newly established business" , "Newly created business" , "Newly-formed company" , "newly formed company" .)