Definitions

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

  • intransitive & transitive verb To vomit.
  • noun The act of vomiting.
  • noun Vomit.
  • noun One regarded as disgusting or contemptible.

from The Century Dictionary.

  • To vomit; eject the contents of the stomach.
  • To sicken; be overcome with loathing.
  • To vomit; throw up; eject from the stomach: generally with up.
  • To cause to puke or vomit.
  • Of a dark color, said to be reddish brown.
  • noun A dark color between russet and black; puce.
  • noun Vomit; a vomiting; that which is vomited.
  • noun An emetic.
  • noun A disgusting person.
  • noun [capitalized] An inhabitant of the State of Missouri.

from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.

  • intransitive verb To eject the contests of the stomach; to vomit; to spew.
  • transitive verb To eject from the stomach; to vomit up.
  • noun A medicine that causes vomiting; an emetic; a vomit.
  • adjective Of a color supposed to be between black and russet.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • noun uncountable vomit.
  • noun countable A drug that induces vomiting.
  • noun countable A worthless, despicable person.
  • verb transitive and intransitive To vomit; to throw up; to eject from the stomach.
  • adjective A fine grade of woolen cloth
  • adjective A very dark, dull, brownish-red color.

from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.

  • noun a person who is deemed to be despicable or contemptible
  • noun the matter ejected in vomiting
  • verb eject the contents of the stomach through the mouth

Etymologies

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition

[Perhaps imitative.]

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

1581, first mention is the derivative pukishness ("the tendency to be sick frequently"). In 1600, "to spit up, regurgitate", recorded in the Seven Ages of Man speech in Shakespeare's As You Like It. Perhaps ultimately from Proto-Germanic *pukanan (“to spit, puff”), from Proto-Indo-European *beu- (“to blow, swell”). If so, then cognate with German fauchen ("to hiss, spit"). Compare also Dutch spugen ("to spit, spit up"), German spucken ("to spit, puke, throw up"), Old English spīwan ("to vomit, spit"). More at spew.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

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Examples

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  • A city in Albania.

    January 1, 2008

  • 'He carried her into the Ladies' Lavatory intending to make her puke up the offending drug. She could not be made to vomit.'

    - Peter Reading, C, 1984

    August 2, 2008

  • Citation on mewl.

    September 18, 2008

  • Infelicitous term used by moonshiners in the Blue Ridge to describe the boiling over of a still.

    August 26, 2009

  • As You Like It, Act 2, Scene 7:

    "Mewling and puking in the nurse's arms."

    September 2, 2009

  • In 16th century England, puke was the name of a high quality woolen fabric, which was typically a dull, dark brown color. (The color has no connection with vomit.)

    June 22, 2015

  • "...he flew into another apartment, where Pickle found him puking and crossing himself with great devotion..."

    — Smollett, Peregrine Pickle

    March 1, 2022