Adjacent Words

Retch definitions

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Webster's 1828 Dictionary

RETCH, v.i. [See Reach.]
To make an effort to vomit; to heave; as the stomach; to strain, as in vomiting; properly to reach.

WordNet (r) 3.0 (2005)

n
1: an involuntary spasm of ineffectual vomiting; "a bad case of the heaves" [syn: heave, retch] v
1: eject the contents of the stomach through the mouth; "After drinking too much, the students vomited"; "He purged continuously"; "The patient regurgitated the food we gave him last night" [syn: vomit, vomit up, purge, cast, sick, cat, be sick, disgorge, regorge, retch, puke, barf, spew, spue, chuck, upchuck, honk, regurgitate, throw up] [ant: keep down]
2: make an unsuccessful effort to vomit; strain to vomit [syn: gag, heave, retch]

Merriam Webster's

verb Etymology: Middle English *rechen to spit, retch, from Old English hr?can to spit, hawk; akin to Old Norse hrækja to spit Date: circa 1798 transitive verb vomit 1 intransitive verb to make an effort to vomit; also vomit • retch noun

Oxford Reference Dictionary

v. & n. --v.intr. make a motion of vomiting esp. involuntarily and without effect. --n. such a motion or the sound of it. Etymology: var. of (now dial.) reach f. OE hræcan spit, ON hrækja f. Gmc, of imit. orig.

Webster's 1913 Dictionary

Retch Retch, v. t. & i. [See Reck.] To care for; to heed; to reck. [Obs.] --Chaucer.

Webster's 1913 Dictionary

Retch Retch, v. i. [imp. & p. p. Retched; p. pr. & vb. n. Retching.] [AS. hr?can to clear the throat, hawk, fr. hraca throat; akin to G. rachen, and perhaps to E. rack neck.] To make an effort to vomit; to strain, as in vomiting. [Written also reach.] Beloved Julia, hear me still beseeching! (Here he grew inarticulate with retching.) --Byron.

Collin's Cobuild Dictionary

(retches, retching, retched) If you retch, your stomach moves as if you are vomiting. The smell made me retch. = heave VERB: V

Soule's Dictionary of English Synonyms

v. n. Heave, strain, keck, gag, try to vomit.

Moby Thesaurus

barf, be nauseated, be seasick, be sick, bring up, choke on, chuck up, disgorge, egest, feed the fish, feel disgust, gag, heave, heave the gorge, keck, puke, regurgitate, reject, sick up, sicken at, spew, throw up, upchuck, vomit