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vomit up

B1 informal separable transitive
In simple words

To sick up food or drink from your stomach, or to suddenly say something you didn't mean to.

Literal meaning: To vomit something upward and out — physically transparent.

Meanings

1 B1 informal

To expel food or liquid from the stomach through the mouth.

"The dog vomited up everything it had eaten that morning."

Grammar: separable
2 B2 idiomatic informal

To suddenly and involuntarily reveal information or say something one intended to keep quiet.

"Under pressure from the detective, the suspect vomited up the whole story."

Grammar: separable
3 C1 idiomatic informal

(Of a machine or system) to produce or eject something, often something unwanted.

"The old printer vomited up a crumpled mess of paper."

Grammar: separable
Usage notes

More graphic than 'bring up' or 'throw up'. The figurative sense (blurting out information) is common in informal speech. Occasionally used metaphorically to describe a machine or system expelling something.

Commonly used with

food contents blood information secret bile

Forms

Base
vomit up
I/you/we/they
3rd person
vomits up
he/she/it
Past simple
vomited up
yesterday
Past participle
vomited up
have + pp
-ing form
vomiting up
continuous

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Synonyms

throw up bring up regurgitate be sick spew up heave up

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