Meaning

noun an involuntary spasm of ineffectual vomiting

verb eject the contents of the stomach through the mouth

verb make an unsuccessful effort to vomit; strain to vomit

originFrom Middle English *recchen, *rechen (attested in arechen), hræcen (“to cough up”), from Old English hrǣċan (“to clear the throat, hawk, spit”), from Proto-West Germanic *hrākijan, from Proto-Germanic *hrēkijaną (“to clear one's throat”), from Proto-Indo-European *kreg- (“to caw, crow”). Cognate with Icelandic hrækja (“to hawk, spit”), Limburgish räöke (“to induce vomiting”), Bavarian reckn (“to…

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 3.0