spew | Search Online Etymology Dictionary

10 entries found.

Old English spiwan "spew, spit," from Proto-Germanic *spiew- (source also of Old Saxon spiwan, Old Norse spyja, Old Frisian spiwa, Middle Dutch spijen, Dutch spuwen, Old High German spiwan, German speien, Gothic spiewan "to spit"), from PIE *sp(y)eu- "to spew, spit," probably ultimately of imitative origin (source also of Latin spuere; Greek ptuein, Doric psyttein; Old Church Slavonic pljuja, Russian plevati; Lithuanian spiauti). Also in Old English as a weak verb, speowan. Related: Spewed; spewing.

spew (n.)

"vomited matter," c. 1600, from spew (v.).

spue (v.)

variant of spew (v.).

sputum (n.)

1690s, from Latin sputum, noun use of neuter past participle of spuere "to spit" (see spew (v.)).

spout (v.)

"to issue forcible, as a liquid," early 14c., related to Middle Dutch spoiten "to spout" (Dutch spuiten "to flow, spout"), North Frisian spütji "spout, squirt," Swedish sputa "to spout," from Proto-Germanic *sput-, from PIE *sp(y)eu- "to spew, spit" (see spew (v.)). Meaning "to talk, declaim" is recorded from 1610s. Related: Spouted; spouting.

cuspidor (n.)

"spittoon," 1779, a colonial word, from Portuguese cuspidor "spittoon," from cuspir "to spit," from Latin conspuere "spit on," from assimilated form of com-, here perhaps an intensive prefix (see com-), + spuere "to spit" (see spew (v.)).

puke (v.)

"to vomit, eject the contents of the stomach," 1600, probably of imitative origin (compare German spucken "to spit," Latin spuere; also see spew (v.)). First attested in the "Seven Ages of Man" speech in Shakespeare's "As You Like It." Related: Puked; puking.

spittle (n.)

"saliva, spit," late 15c., probably an alteration (by influence of spit (n.1)) of Old English spætl, spatl, from Proto-Germanic *spait- (source also of Old English spætan "to spit"), from PIE root *sp(y)eu- "to spew, spit" (see spew (v.)).

spit (v.1)

"expel saliva," Old English spittan (Anglian), spætan (West Saxon), transitive and intransitive, past tense *spytte, from Proto-Germanic *spitjan, from PIE *sp(y)eu-, of imitative origin (see spew (v.)). Not the usual Old English word for this; spætlan (see spittle) and spiwan are more common; all are from the same root. To spit as a gesture of contempt (especially at someone) is in Old English. Related: Spat; spitting.

vomit (n.)

late 14c., "act of expelling contents of the stomach through the mouth," from Anglo-French vomit, Old French vomite, from Latin vomitus, from vomitare "to vomit often," frequentative of vomere "to puke, spew forth, discharge," from PIE root *weme- "to spit, vomit" (source also of Greek emein "to vomit," emetikos "provoking sickness;" Sanskrit vamati "he vomits;" Avestan vam- "to spit;" Lithuanian vemti "to vomit," Old Norse væma "seasickness"). In reference to the matter so ejected, it is attested from late 14c.

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