retch
To make or experience an unsuccessful effort to vomitTo make or experience an unsuccessful effort to vomit; to strain or spasm, as if to vomit; to gag or nearly vomit.
» He retched and then started puking.
Meaning
3 senses(intransitive, transitive)To make or experience an unsuccessful effort to vomit; to strain or spasm, as if to vomit; to gag or nearly vomit.
make an unsuccessful effort to vomit; strain to vomit
(broadly, intransitive, transitive)To vomit; to make or experience a successful effort to vomit.
würgen
пыта́ться рыгнутьpytátʹsja
(ambitransitive, obsolete)To reck.
Examples
3 sentencesHe retched and then started puking.
Sorry for what I wrote, because I wanted to retch.
Just remembering the smell of that rotten food makes me want to retch.
Translations
6 languagesBy meaning 1
By meaning 1
Origin
From Middle English *recchen, *rechen (attested in arechen), hræcen (“to cough up”), fromFrom 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”).
From Middle English recchen (“to care; heed”), from Old English rēċċan, variant of rēċan (“to care; reck”), from Proto-Germanic *rōkijaną (“to care”), from Proto-Indo-European *reǵ- (“straight, right, just”).
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Forms
retches, retching, retched, retchedSynonyms
20 synonymsWord family
3 related wordsLessons for this word
3 lessons- A1Present simple — Because it is a verb
- A1Past simple, regular verbs — Because of its past form
- A2Present perfect: introduction — Because of its past participle