retch

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retch¹

  • /ɹɛt͡ʃ/

Sounds like wretch · Rhymes with -ɛtʃ

Where it comes from

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”).

verb retches · retching · retched · reach

  1. intransitive, transitive To make or experience an unsuccessful effort to vomit; to strain or spasm, as if to vomit; to gag or nearly vomit. Here he grew inarticulate with retching.
  2. broadly, intransitive, transitive To vomit; to make or experience a successful effort to vomit. […] in a couple of hours they were seized with violent retching; the contents of their stomachs were mixed with blood, mucus, and froth.

noun retches · reach

  1. An unsuccessful effort to vomit.

retch²

  • /ɹɛt͡ʃ/

Sounds like wretch · Rhymes with -ɛtʃ

Where it comes from

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”).

verb retches · retching · retched

  1. ambitransitive, obsolete To reck.

retch³

  • /ɹɛt͡ʃ/

Sounds like wretch · Rhymes with -ɛtʃ

Where it comes from

From Middle English recchen, from Old English reċċan (“to stretch, extend”), from Proto-West Germanic *rakkjan, from Proto-Germanic *rakjaną (“to straighten, stretch”), from Proto-Indo-European *h₃roǵéyeti.

verb retches · retching · retched · raught

  1. alternative, dialectal Alternative form of reach.reach

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