regurgitate
English
Etymology
From Late Latin regurgitatus, past participle of regurgitare, combined form of re- (“back”) + gurgitare (“to engulf, flood”), from gurges (“whirlpool, gulf, sea, abyss”).
Pronunciation
- (US) IPA(key): /ɹɪˈɡɚd͡ʒəˌteɪt/
Audio (US) (file)
Verb
regurgitate (third-person singular simple present regurgitates, present participle regurgitating, simple past and past participle regurgitated)
- (transitive) To throw up or vomit; to eject what has previously been swallowed.
- 2014 December 23, Olivia Judson, “The hemiparasite season [print version: Under the hemiparasite, International New York Times, 24–25 December 2014, page 7]”, in The New York Times, archived from the original on 23 December 2014:
- […] The flesh [of the mistletoe berry] is sticky, and forms strings and ribbons between my thumb and forefinger. For the mistletoe, this viscous goop – and by the way, viscous comes to English from viscum – is crucial. The stickiness means that, after eating the berries, birds often regurgitate the seeds and then wipe their bills on twigs – leading to the seeds' getting glued to the tree, where they can germinate and begin the cycle anew.
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- (transitive) To cough up from the gut to feed its young, as an animal or bird does.
- The young gulls were fed by their mother’s regurgitated food.
- (transitive, by extension) To repeat verbatim.
- (intransitive) To be thrown or poured back; to rush or surge back.
- Food may regurgitate from the stomach into the mouth.
Synonyms
Related terms
Translations
to throw up
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to cough up from gut to feed young chicks
to repeat verbatim
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Further reading
- regurgitate in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, G. & C. Merriam, 1913.
- regurgitate in The Century Dictionary, New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., 1911.
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