retch
/ɹɛt͡ʃ/
Word Rarity
Very rare
Frequency: Zipf frequency 2.04 in modern English
10
Scrabble Score
5
Letters
1
Syllables
5
Unique Chars
Meaning
verb
To make or experience an unsuccessful effort to vomit; to strain or spasm, as if to vomit; to gag or nearly vomit.
Intransitive verb; Transitive verb
verb
To vomit; to make or experience a successful effort to vomit.
Intransitive verb; Transitive verb
noun
An unsuccessful effort to vomit.
verb
Alternative form of reach.
Example Sentences
- "Here he grew inarticulate with retching."
- "[…] in a couple of hours they were seized with violent retching; the contents of their stomachs were mixed with blood, mucus, and froth."
- "[…] severe, with a heavy retching; the contents of the stomach would come up rather easily at first, but as it continued the retching became more severe. By the straining to vomit, all the symptoms were […]"
- "[…] retching the contents of his breakfast – his fabled raw eggs and beer by the look of it – up onto the sidewalk. But some sort of salvation seemed to be at hand in the shape of a young woman who now came up to the retching poet.[…]"
- "“What manner of being are you?” I cried. The creature's black tar viscera flew from the lacerated stump, covering Mary and myself in the fluid. I recall instantly retching the contents of my stomach, while simultaneously […]"
- "Retching the contents from his lungs. The uncomfortable warble of voices called for help, greeting him at the floor. He was laid on a gurney, the slimy contents wiped from his face. The sting of needles inserted in his arms."
Etymology
From Middle English *recchen, *rechen (attested in arechen), hræcen (“to cough up”), from Old English hrǣċan (“to clear the throat, hawk, spit”), from Proto-West Germanic *hrākijan, from Proto-Germanic *hrēkijaną (“to clear one's throat”), from Proto-Indo-European *kreg- (“to caw, crow”). Cognate with Icelandic hrækja (“to hawk, spit”), Limburgish räöke (“to induce vomiting”), Bavarian reckn (“to retch, gag”) and German recken (“to retch, gag”). Also related with German Rachen (“throat”).
Origin
Word Breakdown
- Root: *recchen, hrǣċan, *hrākijan, *hrēkijaną, *kreg-, recchen