Forms: α. 1 spiwan, spywan, spiowan, speowan, 3 speowen; 3– spew, 4–6 spewe, 5 spyw-, 6 speew, speawe. β. 4–9 spue (5 spuwe, spw-). [Two OE. forms are here represented: (1) the strong verb spíwan, spýwan (pa. t. spáw, pl. spiwon), = OFris. spîa, spiga (WFris. spije, EFris. spî, NFris. spî, spei, spai), OS. spîwan (MLG. spîen, spîgen, spiggen), OHG. spîwan (MHG. spîwen, spîen, G. speien), ON. and Icel. spýja (Norw., Sw., Da. spy), Goth. speiwan; (2) the weak verb spéowan, spíowan (pa. t. spéowde, spíowde). The strong forms barely survived beyond OE. The Continental languages also show a tendency to adopt weak forms, and exhibit various irregular modifications of the stem, which is found outside of Teutonic in L. spuĕre, Gr. πτύειν, Lith. spiauti, etc.]
1. intr. To bring up and discharge the contents of the stomach through the mouth; to vomit. Not now in polite use.
Also in OE., to spit, to discharge spittle or blood.
α. c. 897. K. Ælfred, Gregory’s Past. C., v. 45. ʓif hire ðonne se wiðsace, ðonne is cynn ðæt him spiwe ðæt wif on ðæt nebb.
c. 1000. Ælfric, Saints’ Lives, xii. 163. Swa þæt he bið þam hunde ʓelic þe spywð, and eft ytt þæt þæt he ær aspaw.
c. 1100. O. E. Chron. (MS. F), an. 1003. Ða ʓebræde he hine to spiwenne & cwæd ðæt he seoc wære.
a. 1225. Juliana, 49. Hare ahne blod ich habbe ofte imaket ham to spitten & to speowen.
c. 1340. Nominale (Skeat), 344. Homme vomyte pur surfet, [Man] spewith for ouer mykul.
c. 1386. Chaucer, Melib., ¶ 451. If thou ete of it out of mesure, thou shalt spewe.
c. 1400. trans. Secreta Secret., Gov. Lordsh., 71. Þe medicyn ys þys, to drynke cler watir with a sope of vynegre, and spewe.
1530. Palsgr., 728. This felowe is so lothsome that he wolde make one spewe.
1570. Levins, Manip., 214. To speawe, spuere, vomere.
1570. Googe, Pop. Kingd., IV. 56. He … holdes their heades that speewing lie.
1607. Middleton, Fam. Love, IV. iii. 93. I will … send him packing, or else he will spew or do worse before me.
1647. Trapp, Marrow Gd. Authors, in Comm. Ep., 687. Canonicall Proverbs, such as should make a Christian spew to think on them.
1739. R. Bull, trans. Dedekindus’ Grobianus, 42. There, unabash’d, heroically, spew.
1783. Gibbon, Misc. Wks. (1814), II. 327. I had not the least symptom of sea-sickness, while my companions were spewing round me.
1809. Byron, Lines to Mr. Hodgson, iii. Passengers their berths are clapt in, Some to grumble, some to spew.
1888–. in dial. glossaries and texts (Som., Norf., Lanc., Yks., Durh., etc.).
transf. 1731. Pope, Ep. Burlington, 154. The rich Buffet well-colour’d serpents grace, And gaping Tritons spew to wash your face.
β. a. 1400. Trevisa, Higden (Rolls), VII. 503. Edricus a fals traytor, feyned for to spuwe, and seide that he was seke.
c. 1460. Towneley Myst. xxiv. 82. I spuyd and spyt right in his face.
1509. Barclay, Shyp of Folys (1570), 33 b. Some spue, some stacker, some vtterly are lame.
1530. Palsgr., 730/2. I spue, I gyve over my gorge, je gomys.
1633. P. Fletcher, Purple Isl., VII. lxxvii. All drink to spue, and spue again to drink.
1706. J. H. Browne, Pipe of Tobacco, Poems (1768), 123. A pot wherein to spit or spue.
1877. in Holderness Gloss.
fig. 1586. T. B., La Primaud. Fr. Acad., I. 365. Lysander,… being reviled with many bitter speeches, said to him that offered the injurie: Spue out boldly my friend, spue out … and spare not.
† b. trans. To bespew or bespit. Obs.
1526. Pilgr. Perf. (W. de W., 1531), 97 b. He was illuded & scorned with garmentes of irrisyon, spewed in ye face.
2. trans. To bring up (food or drink) from the stomach and eject through the mouth; to cast up or vomit; to cast out, throw forth, or discharge (blood, poison, etc.) from the mouth. Also in fig. context.
In OE. the object is sometimes in the dative.
971. Blickl. Hom., 57. Ne þæt to nahte nyt ne biþ þæt man godne mete ete oþþe þæt betste win … drince, ʓif … he hit eft spiwende anforlæteþ.
a. 1000. Juliana, 476 (Gr.). Eac ic sume ʓedyde, þæt him banlocan blode spiowedan.
c. 1000. Ælfric, Saints’ Lives, xii. 63. He feoll þa æt ðære forman snæde underbecc ʓeswoʓen, and spaw blod.
c. 1200. Trin. Coll. Hom., 199. [Þe] neddre … speweð hire atter.
c. 1220. Bestiary, 139, in O. E. Misc. Oc he speweð or al ðe uenim ðat in his brest is bred.
c. 1300. Havelok, 1819. Þe fifte … Gaf he a ful sor dint ok, Bitwen þe sholdres,… þat he speu [printed spen] his herte blod.
1387. Trevisa, Higden (Rolls), IV. 439. Men ete … filþe þat men hadde y-spewed [v.r. yspuwed] and i-cast up.
c. 1400. Lanfranc’s Cirurg., 118. Or ellis he spewiþ [v.r. spyweþ] his mete, or he feliþ to gret akþe in þe heed.
1500–20. Dunbar, Poems, xxvii. 59. He about the Devillis nek Did spew agane ane quart of blek.
1590. Spenser, F. Q., I. i. 20. Therewith she spewd out of her filthy maw A floud of poyson.
1611. Sir W. Mure, Wks. (S.T.S.), I. 6. Ane spytfull spidar, ewer spewing Ye poysonous potioune of late rewing.
1697. Dryden, Virg. Georg., III. 772. The Steer … dying spews & Flood Of foamy Madness, mix’d with clotted Blood.
1815. G. Beattie, John o’ Arnha’ (1826), 39. Dæmons, dragons, spectres dire, Spewin’ reek, an’ riftin’ fire.
b. Const. with advs., as forth, out, up.
a. 900. O. E. Martyrol., 23 March. He spaw his innoð ut þurh his muð.
c. 1200. Trin. Coll. Hom., 37. Þe fule man þe foleȝeð his wombes wil … and þe est metes and drinkes ut speweð.
a. 1240. Sawles Warde, in O. E. Hom., I. 251. Iteilede draken … forswolheð ham ihal, ant speoweð ham eft ut biuoren ant bihinden.
1388. Wyclif, Job xx. 15. He schal spue out the richessis, whiche he deuouride.
1632. Lithgow, Trav., III. 92. Their Musicke in the end was sound drunkennesse, and their Syncopa turnd to spew vp all.
1655. Moufet & Bennet, Health’s Improv. (1746), 239. If you shift them into fresh Water or Brine … they will open themselves, and spue out all their Gravel and Filthiness.
1682. N. O., Boileau’s Lutrin, II. 172. Thou look’st as if first eaten, and then spew’d up.
1855. Singleton, Virgil, II. 247. But he … from his jaws prodigious smoke … spews forth.
fig. a. 1618. Raleigh, Instr. to Son (1651), ix. 27. I thought at the last, quoth Diogenes, he would spue out a whole house.
1639. S. Du Verger, trans. Camus’ Admir. Events, 214. Thus they left him in that place, spewing out his soule with his bloud.
c. Freq. in fig. use with reference to abusive or objectionable language. Chiefly const. with advs., as forth, out, up. (Freq. c. 1550–1600.)
a. 1225. Ancr. R., 86. Þe uorme [backbiter] cumeð al openliche, & seið vuel bi anoðer, & speoweð ut his atter.
1532. [see SPET v. b].
1535. Joye, Apol. Tindale (Arb.), 39. [He] hathe spewed forthe al his venome and poyson at once vpon me.
1576. Fleming, Panopl. Epist., 114. But why shold they spue against me their spiteful stomaches?
1628. Wither, Brit. Rememb., II. 171. I doe not grudge mine enemies to spue Their slanders on my name.
1632. Lithgow, Trav., X. 472. My sonne, beholde you deserue to be burnt quicke…: Spewing forth also this Fæminine Latine [etc.].
a. 1704. T. Brown, Amusem. Ser. & Com., Lond., Wks. 1709, III. I. 17. There is an Evidence ready to spue up his false Oaths at the sight of the common Executioner.
1718. T. Gordon, Dedic. to Gt. Man, 20. Why must prating Oars … be for ever suffer’d, without Rebuke, to be spewing up their ill-scented Crudities in the Faces of Men that are either Wise or Brave?
1877. Dowden, Shaks. Primer, v. 53. Thersites spews over everything that we had deemed high and sacred, his foul … insults.
3. To cast out († or up), to eject or reject, with abhorrence, contempt or loathing. Also const. out of or forth (a place). (Freq. c. 1600.)
(a) 1388. Wyclif, Lev. xviii. 25. Of which lond Y schal vysyte the grete synnes, that it spewe out hise dwellers.
1526. Tindale, Rev. iii. 16. Because thou arte … nether colde ner hott, I will spew the oute of my mought.
1583. Stubbes, Anat. Abus. (1877), 105. It will spue out many of his Maisters out of dores before it be long.
1601. Bacon, Decl. Treas. E. of Essex, Wks. 1879, I. 433. He was thus justly spewed out of the realm.
a. 1652. Brome, Novella, V. i. (1653), M 3. I shall take for your disgrace an order Shall spue you forth the City.
1692. Ray, Disc., III. xii. (1732), 421. Heaven would naturally spue out and eject a wicked Person.
1729. W. Flower, Lett. to Swift, S.’s Wks. 1841, II. 624/2. Bad men … should be spewed out of it with the utmost contempt.
1849. Macaulay, Hist. Eng., vii. II. 231. William … would have been pronounced by … bigots on both sides a mere Laodicean,… and fit only to be spewed out.
4. To eject, cast or throw out or up, as if by vomiting (Freq. in the 17th c.).
1598. Sylvester, Du Bartas, II. ii. IV. Columnes, 224. A Bullet spewd from Brazen Brest.
1613. Drayton, Man in the Moone, 240. Others [sc. shell-fish] agayn wide open that did yawn, And on the grauell spew’d their orient spawn.
1676. Grew, Musæum, Anat. Stomach & Guts (1681), vii. 29. The glands of the Guts are likewise of great Use. The Mucus which they spew, serves to make the Guts slippery.
1697. Dryden, Virg. Georg., I. 176. When Earth with Slime and Mud is cover’d o’er, Or hollow Places spue their wat’ry Store.
1707. Mortimer, Husb. (1721), II. 120. The Frosts are apt to spew them out of the Ground.
1710. T. Fuller, Pharm. Exemp., 250. It is useful to … hinder the Lympha’s being plentifully spewed out of the Glands.
b. Const. forth, out, up.
1610. G. Fletcher, Christ’s Vict., I. xxii. And, least their pleasant gods should want delight, Neptune spues out the Lady Aphrodite.
1664. Evelyn, Sylva (1679), 10. Your plants beginning now to peep, should be earthed up,… especially, after breaking of the greater Frosts, and when the swelling mould is apt to spue them forth.
1678. Bunyan, Pilgr., I. 13. At such time as this place doth spue out its filth.
1727. Earbery, trans. Burnet’s St. Dead, 127. The Sepulchres open’d their marble Jaws, and spew’d out their Dead.
1855. Singleton, Virgil, I. 138. If no high Mansion … Of morning visitants a mighty tide Spews forth from all its halls.
c. spec. To eject by volcanic action.
1594. Greene & Lodge, Looking Gl., 1382, G.’s Wks. (Grosart), XIV. 62. The hill of Sicely … spues out from below The smoakie brands that Vulcans bellowes driue.
1685. Burnet, Trav. (1687), II. iv. 27. What can be the fuel of so lasting a burning, that hath calcined so much matter, and spewed out such prodigious quantities. Ibid. (1690), Theory Earth, II. 86. When the bowels of the earth begin to melt, and the mountains spew out streams of liquid fire.
1717. Berkeley, Jrnl. Tour Italy, Wks. 1871, IV. 589. It is pretended that in [the year] 31 hot waters were spewed out of the crater.
1847. C. Brontë, Jane Eyre, xx. A crater-crust which may crack and spue fire any day.
5. techn. a. To force or cause to ooze out by undue strain or pressure; spec. in Naut. use (see quot. 1863).
1570–1. Admiralty Crt. Exam. 18, 17 Feb., Havinge her okam spewed owte. Ibid. (1630), 49, 26 Aug., [A leaky ship] spewed the ocum out of her seames.
1663. Gerbier, Counsel, 29. That which is thin, will cause the work to settle more in one place then in the other, and the joynts to spue out the Morter.
1863. A. Young, Naut. Dict., 365. A vessel is said to spue the oakum when her straining and labouring at sea forces the oakum out of the seams of her planks.
† b. Of a gun: To throw out or drop (powder) instead of consuming it. Obs.–1
a. 1642. Sir W. Monson, Naval Tracts, III. (1703), 344/1. The shorter Piece will spue her Powder.
6. intr. Of water, liquids, etc.: To flow, pour, or run in a more or less copious stream; to ooze or be forced out or up. Usually const. with adverbs or preps. Now chiefly dial.
1670. J. Smith, Eng. Improv. Reviv’d, 38. Being full of Land-springs, (which is Water running within the Earth, and shews it self, or is discovered by breaking out, or spewing up in many places).
1675. Worlidge, Syst. Agric., vii. § 10 (ed. 2), 123. The Sap or Gum will also spew out in that place.
1695. Woodward, Nat. Hist. Earth, III. (1723), 152. It [water] spues out of Chasmes, opened by the Earthquake, in great Abundance.
1717. Berkeley, in Fraser, Life (1871), iii. 79. This stuff would sometimes spew over and run down the convex side of the conical hill.
1784. Sir J. Cullum, Hist. Hawsted & Hardwick, iii. 171. Sand-Galls; spots of sand in a field where water oozes, or, as we say, spews up.
1843. Jrnl. R. Agric. Soc., IV. I. 40. The gravel … causes the land-springs to rise and spew out upon the surface.
1892. Stevenson & L. Osbourne, Wrecker, 339. Avalanches of clay, rock, and uprooted forest spewed over the cliffs and fell upon the beach.
b. Of ground: To swell through excess of moisture; to slip or run when left unsupported.
1839. Civil Eng. & Arch. Jrnl., II. 27/1. Stratford marshes, where the ground for a depth of eight feet is inclined to ‘spew up.’
1860. Worcester, Spew, v.n., to swell, as wet land affected by frost, so as to throw seed out of the ground; as, ‘The ground spews.’
1876. Robinson, Mid-Yks. Gloss., s.v., In constructing a ‘sike’ for the drainage of land, gravelly earth will often break edge, and spew.
c. Artill. (See quot.) rare–0.
1842. Burn, Nav. Milit. Techn. Dict., I. Saigner du nez, to spew, run at the mouth; applied to a gun when, from too quick a fire, it bends at the chase, or the muzzle droops.
7. Of bees: To swarm for the fourth time in one season.
1750. W. Ellis, Mod. Husbandm., IV. II. 115. Bees will sometimes (but rarely) swarm, cast, colt, and spew, from one and the same old stock of Bees in one Summer.
Hence Spewed ppl. a.; Spewer.
c. 1000. Ælfric, Gloss., in Wr.-Wülcker, 108. Uomex, uel uomens, spiwere.
1606. Holyoke, Rider’s Dict., I. Vomitor, a spewer, or parbreaker.
1633. P. Fletcher, Purple Isl., VII. lxxvii. Insatiate sink, how with so generall stain Thy spu’d-out puddles court, town, fields entice!
1648. Hexham, II. Een Braker, a Vomiter, or Spewer. Ibid., Een Spouwer, a Spetter or a Spuer.
1883. Almondbury & Huddersf. Gloss., Spuers, squibs; serpents; a kind of fireworks.
