Definition of 'retch'
Word forms: 3rd person singular present
tense retches
, present participle retching
, past tense, past participle retched
verb
If you retch, your stomach moves as if you are vomiting.
COBUILD Advanced English Dictionary. Copyright © HarperCollins Publishers
retch in British English
noun
3.
an involuntary spasm of ineffectual vomiting
Collins English Dictionary. Copyright © HarperCollins Publishers
Word origin
Old English hrǣcan; related to Old Norse hrǣkja to spit
retch in American English
Webster’s New World College Dictionary, 4th Edition. Copyright © 2010 by
Houghton Mifflin Harcourt. All rights reserved.
retch in American English
(retʃ)
intransitive verb
1.
to make efforts to vomit
transitive verb
2.
to vomit
Most material © 2005, 1997, 1991 by Penguin Random House LLC. Modified entries © 2019
by Penguin Random House LLC and HarperCollins Publishers Ltd
Word origin
[1540–50; var. of reach, OE hrǣc an to clear the throat (not recorded in ME), deriv. of hrāca a clearing of the throat; cf. ON hrǣkja to hawk, spit]Examples of 'retch' in a sentence
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Definition of retch from the Collins English Dictionary
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