puke
pronunciation
How to pronounce puke in British English:
UK [pju:k]
How to pronounce puke in American English:
US [pjuk]
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- Noun:
- a person who is deemed to be despicable or contemptible
- the matter ejected in vomiting
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- Verb:
- eject the contents of the stomach through the mouth
Word Origin
- puke
- puke: [16] The first record of puke in English is in Jaques’s famous ‘Seven Ages of Man’ speech in Shakespeare’s As You Like It 1600: ‘At first the infant, mewling and puking in the nurse’s arms’. Its origins are not known for certain, but it presumably goes back ultimately to some Germanic base imitative of the sound of regurgitation (perhaps the same as produced German spucken ‘spew, spit’).
- puke (v.)
- 1600, probably of imitative origin (compare German spucken "to spit," Latin spuere); first recorded in the "Seven Ages of Man" speech in Shakespeare's "As You Like It." Related: Puked; puking.
- puke (n.)
- 1737, "a medicine which excites vomiting;" 1966 as "material thrown up in vomiting," from puke (v.). U.S. colloquial meaning "native of Missouri" (1835) might be a different word, of unknown origin. It is well known, that the inhabitants of the several western States are called by certain nicknames. Those of Michigan are called wolverines; of Indiana, hooshers; of Illinois, suckers; of Ohio, buckeyes; of Kentucky, corn-crackers; of Missouri pukes, &c. To call a person by his right nickname, is always taken in good part, and gives no offence; but nothing is more offensive than to mis-nickname--that is, were you to call a hoosher a wolverine, his blood would be up in a moment, and he would immediately show fight. [A.A. Parker, "Trip to the West and Texas," Concord, N.H., 1835] Bartlett (1859) has "A nickname for a native of Missouri" as the second sense of puke (n.), the first being "A mean, contemptible fellow." The association of the state nickname with the "vomit" word is at least from 1858, and folk etymology talks of the old state literally vomiting forth immigrants to California.
Example
- 1. Excuse me ! I need to mop up some puke .
- 2. Yeah , puke has a mind of its own .
- 3. You smell a little like puke .
- 4. Unless you puke and get sick .
- 5. People rarely giggle , puke or urinate when reading a witty , repulsive or aquatic novel ; but I bet that readers of this column and those who may be watching them - will drop their jaws even more often than usual as they plough through it .