▪ I. ˈvomiting, vbl. n.
[f. vomit v. + -ing1.]
1. The act of ejecting the contents of the stomach through the mouth; an instance of this.
| 1495 Trevisa's Barth. De P.R. xvii. xxi. O ij b/1 This floure balaustia..hath also vertue to staunche spewyng & vomytynge. 1555 W. Watreman Fardle Facions i. v. 73 When they are sicke, they heale them selues, eyther with fasting or vomiting. a 1568 in Bannatyne MS. (Hunt. Cl.) 196 Oppin thy crop at morrowing, Cast out flowme, mak vomating. 1603 Holland Plutarch's Mor. 781 Inordinate passion of vomiting..is nothing different from a keckish stomacke and a desire to cast. 1663 Boyle Usef. Exp. Nat. Philos. ii. v. xiv. 249 The Water..has upon the gazer the operation of a rapid stream, and by making him giddy, hastens and facilitates his Vomiting. 1706 Stanhope Paraphr. III. 323 Such a nauseating and indigestion that great Numbers..dyed..by violent Vomitings. 1742 in Cath. Rec. Soc. Publ. (1914) XIV. 137 A Sudden Vomiting seiz'd her, which deprived her of y⊇ Benefit of her Viaticum. 1813 J. Thomson Lect. Inflam. 599 A mild vegetable aliment, where aliment can be taken without inducing sickness, or exciting vomiting. 1885 Pater Marius i. vii, A painful vomiting, which seemed to shake his body asunder. |
b. Const. of (the matter ejected).
| 1601 Holland Pliny II. Table, s.v., Vomiting of bloud out of the stomacke, how to bee cured. 1622 Venner Via Recta viii. (ed. 2) 194 It..induceth vomitings of bloud. 1728 Chambers Cycl. s.v. Colic, A Vomiting of bilious green Liquor. 1765 Wesley Jrnl. 27 May (1827) III. 215 A young man, brought near death by a vomiting of blood. 1822–7 Good Study Med. (1829) II. 183 Gangrene..accompanied with a vomiting of matter resembling coffee-grounds. 1859 Mayne Expos. Lex. 1337/2 Vomiting of Blood,..common term for the disease Hæmatemesis. |
c. With defining terms. (See quots.)
| 1794 B. Rush Acc. Yellow Fever (ed. 2) 56 Several persons died without a black vomiting of any kind. 1836 Macgillivray Trav. Humboldt xxi. 300 The yellow fever or black vomiting is prevalent. a 1883 Fagge Princ. & Pract. Med. (1886) II. 130 ‘Irritability of the stomach,’ or ‘hysterical vomiting.’ 1895 Funk's Stand. Dict., Morning vomiting, the vomiting of drunkards, due to alcoholism; also, the vomiting of pregnant women. |
2. concr. Matter which is vomited; = vomit n. 2.
| 1727 Swift Poisoning E. Curll Wks. 1755 III. i. 149 The contents of his vomiting being as green as grass. 1794 B. Rush Acc. Yellow Fever (ed. 2) 56 The matter which constitutes the fatal black vomiting. |
3. techn. (See quot. and vomiting ppl. a.)
| 1881 Spons' Encycl. Industr. Arts iv. 1486 The steam from the pipe A heats the liquor..and forcing it up the wide pipe C, causes it to strike against the dome or bonnet D... This is technically called ‘vomiting’. |
4. attrib., chiefly in the sense ‘causing vomiting, emetic’, as vomiting drink, vomiting julep, vomiting pap, vomiting tartar, etc.; † vomiting nut = nux vomica 1.
| (a) 1575 Banister Chyrurg. 106 b, Nux vomica, the vomiting nutte. 1587 Wills & Inv. N.C. (Surtees 1860) 155, iij vomitinge nottes of puther. 1668 Culpepper & Cole Barthol. Anat. i. xviii. 49 They are no bigger than a large vomiting Nut. 1681 Grew Musæum ii. i. iv. 210 The true Methel; or the Vomiting-Nut commonly so call'd. 1712 tr. Pomet's Hist. Drugs I. 137 The Vomiting Nuts are round, flat Nuts, of divers Colours. 1723 Pres. St. Russia II. 53 They..pour strong Vinegar upon vomiting Nuts. |
| (b) 1647 Hexham i, A vomiting drinke or potion, een dranck die over-geven doet. 1663 Boyle Usef. Exp. Nat. Philos. ii. v. viii. 189 That violent Vomiting Medicine..called..Mercurius Vitæ. 1694 W. Salmon Bate's Dispens. (1713) 363/2 A Vomiting Pappe. Ibid. 527/2 Tartarum Emeticum, Emetick, or Vomiting Tartar. 1737 Med. Ess. & Observ. IV. 33 An Essay towards ascertaining the Doses of vomiting and purging Medicines. 1789 W. Buchan Dom. Med. (1790) 191 A few spoonfuls of the vomiting julep, will generally answer this purpose. |
| (c) 1651 Wittie tr. Primrose's Pop. Err. 44 He that first found out the vomiting vertue of antimony. 1899 Allbutt's Syst. Med. VII. 650 Again vomiting..is suggestive..of a tumour in the region of the vomiting centre. |
▪ II. ˈvomiting, ppl. a.
[f. as prec. + -ing2.]
That vomits or causes to vomit.
vomiting-boiler: (see quot. 1844).
| 1844 G. Dodd Textile Manuf. ii. 76 A ‘vomiting-boiler’, that is, a boiler so constructed that the water is made to vomit upwards from a pipe, and then to fall down on the cloth in the boiler. 1879 Cassell's Techn. Educ. III. 14/2 Fixed kiers with a vomiting-pipe. 1880 J. Dunbar Pract. Paperm. (1881) 19 [Esparto grass] boiled for 10 hours in stationary vomiting boilers with 10 lb. steam pressure. 1904 R. J. Farrer Gard. Asia 248 From the wide plain leapt a vomiting cone of fire. |