puke

Meaning

Noun

1. (colloquial, uncountable) vomit.
2. (colloquial, countable) A drug that induces vomiting.
3. (colloquial, countable) A worthless, despicable person.
4. (US, countable, derogatory, slang) A person from Missouri.

Verb

1. (ambitransitive, colloquial) To vomit; to throw up; to eject from the stomach.
2. (intransitive, slang) To sell securities or investments at a loss, often under duress or pressure, in order to satisfy liquidity or margin requirements, or out of a desire to exit a deteriorating market.

Synonyms

vomit

throw up

barf

spew

sick

🤢

regurgitate

disgorge

spue

retch

upchuck

spit

vomit up

cast

regorge

cat

😺

chuck

be sick

vomitus

crumb

bum

dirty dog

git

honk

lowlife

purge

rat

🐀

retching

rotter

skunk

🦨

so-and-so

spit up

stinker

stinkpot

yak

chunder

scum bag

sheet

knit

brass

slab

belch

hurl

spew out

hellhound

spit out

toss one’s cookies

flat solid

sick up

flagstone

tile

Translations

vomitar

vomir

kotzen

vomitare

vomitar

erbrechen

Kotze

sich übergeben

vomi

vomito

gerber

braken

spucken

kotsen

dégueuler

Pronounced as (IPA)

/pjuːk/

Etymology

Cognate with German: pfauchen

Cognate with Dutch: spugen

Cognate with German: spucken

Cognate with Old English: spīwan

In summary

Probably imitative; or, alternatively from Proto-Germanic *pukaną (“to spit, puff”), from Proto-Indo-European *bew- (“to blow, swell”). If so, then cognate with German pfauchen, 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.
Attested as early as 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.