spew

English dictionary entry

Meanings

verb
  1. To eject forcibly and in a stream.
  2. To be forcibly ejected.
  3. To speak or write quickly and voluminously, especially words that are not worth listening to or reading.
  4. To be written or spoken voluminously.
  5. To vomit.
  6. To ejaculate.
  7. To develop a white powder or dark crystals on the surface of finished leather, as a result from improper tanning.
noun
  1. Vomit.
  2. Ejaculate or ejaculation.
  3. Nonsense or lies.
  4. Material that has been ejected in a stream, or the act of spewing.
  5. A white powder or dark crystals that appear on the surface of improperly tanned leather.
  6. Adhesive that is squeezed from a joint under pressure and held across the joint by a fillet, thereby strengthening the joint.

Pronunciation

/spjuː/ en-us-spew.ogg

Word forms

spew spews spewing spewed spewn

Etymology

From Middle English spewen, from Old English spīwan, from Proto-West Germanic *spīwan, from Proto-Germanic *spīwaną, from Proto-Indo-European *(s)ptyēw- (“to spit, vomit”). Germanic cognates include English spit, West Frisian spije, Dutch spuien, Dutch spuwen, Low German speen, spiien, German speien (“to spew, spit, vomit”), Swedish spy, Danish spy, Faroese spýggja, Gothic 𐍃𐍀𐌴𐌹𐍅𐌰𐌽 (speiwan). Also cognate, through Indo-European, with Latin spuō (“spit”, verb), Ancient Greek πτύω (ptúō, “spit, vomit”), Albanian fyt (“throat”), Armenian թուք (tʻukʻ), Russian плева́ть (plevátʹ), Persian تف (tof), Sanskrit ष्ठीवति (ṣṭhī́vati).

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