retch

English

Pronunciation

  • IPA(key): /ɹɛtʃ/
  • Rhymes: -ɛtʃ
  • Homophone: wretch

Etymology 1

From Middle English recche (“care; regard”), from recchen (“to care; heed”), from Old English rēċċan (“to care; reck”).

Verb

retch (third-person singular simple present retches, present participle retching, simple past and past participle retched)

  1. (transitive, intransitive, obsolete) To reck

Etymology 2

From Middle English *recchen, *rechen, from Old English hrǣċan (“to clear the throat, hawk, spit”), 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”).

Alternative forms

  • reach (archaic, or, dialectal)

Verb

retch (third-person singular simple present retches, present participle retching, simple past and past participle retched)

  1. To make an unsuccessful effort to vomit; to strain, as in vomiting.
    • Byron
      Here he grew inarticulate with retching.
Translations

Noun

retch (plural retches)

  1. An unsuccessful effort to vomit.

Translations

Anagrams

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