▪ I. spewing, vbl. n.
(ˈspjuːɪŋ)
[f. spew v. + -ing1.]
1. The action of the verb in various senses; vomiting; an instance or occasion of this.
| a 1000 in Wr.-Wülcker 230 Euomatio, speowung. c 1000 ælfric Gloss. Ibid. 162 Euomitio, spiwingc. 1387 Trevisa Higden (Rolls) IV. 393 Also he usede ofte clistories and spuynge. 1398 ― Barth. De P.R. xiii. xxi. (Bodl. MS.), Þe see..bredeþ drede and feere & heedeache and spuying. c 1440 Promp. Parv. 471/1 Spwynge, or brakynge (or parbrakynge), vomitus. 1500 Ortus Vocab., Ructus i. vomitus, angl'. a spwynge. 1535 Coverdale Hab. ii. 16 For the cuppe of the Lordes righte honde shall compasse the aboute, and shamefull spewinge in steade of thy worshipe. 1657 H. Crowch Welsh Traveller 4 Then to spewing did her [= she] fall. 1686 J. Dunton Lett. fr. New-Eng. (1867) 23 As often as I view'd the Ocean, or durst peep out of my Cabin, to order Palmer to assist me in my Spewing. 1842 Burn Naval & Mil. Techn. Dict. i, Egueulement, elliptical enlargement of the bore, called running or spewing at the muzzle, of a gun, occasioned by quick and long continued firing. 1883 Athenæum 4 Aug. 146/3 The ‘spueing’ of the sloppy ink over the edges of the letters. |
b. attrib., as spewing-fit, † spewing-nut (see quot.).
| 1586 Lupton 1000 Notable Things (1675) 121 The pouder of Nux Vomica called the Spuing Nut. a 1704 T. Brown Walk round Lond., Quaker's Meet. Wks. 1709 III. iii. 21 When the Spewing-fit is over, he'll sit down to take a Nod. |
2. Matter spewed out or vomited; spew.
| c 1380 Wyclif Sel. Wks. II. 330 Houndis..þat after þe tyme þat þei have spued þei turnen aȝen and eeten þe spuynge. 1388 ― Isaiah xxviii. 8 Alle bordis weren fillid with spuyng and filthis. 1553 Becon Reliques of Rome (1563) 226 If a man by any chaunce of glotony, do spue out y⊇ sacrement, the same spuyng must be brent. 1880 Antrim & Down Gloss. 98 Spuans, what is vomited. |
▪ II. ˈspewing, ppl. a.
[f. as prec.]
1. That spews, in senses of the vb.
| 1388 Wyclif Isaiah xix. 14 A drunkun man and spuynge. 1560 Rolland Seven Sages 97 Thow poysonit spewand spout. 1605 Sylvester Du Bartas ii. iii. i. 1306 Earth's exhalations hot Are spewing ætnas that to Heav'n aspire. 1648 J. Beaumont Psyche xviii. clxi, That Simon he outspit in Heresy, And higher than his spewing Father flew. 1856 Deil's Hallowe'en 16 (E.D.D.), Some dreepit a' wi' spewin' sairs. |
2. Agric. Of ground: Characterized by the oozing out of moisture; excessively wet; spewy. Freq. in the 17th c.; now rare or Obs.
| 1610 W. Folkingham Art of Survey i. x. 24 Spewing grounds ouer-soaked with sower moisture are well releeued by being sowne with Oates. 1634 W. Wood New Eng. Prosp. (1865) 11 The Soyle is for the generall a warme kinde of earth, there being little cold-spewing land. 1664 Evelyn Sylva xvii. 36 In moist, and boggy places they will flourish wonderfully, so the ground be not spewing. a 1722 Lisle Husb. (1757) 11 Chalk is healing, and therefore proper for clay, cold, and spewing grounds. |
3. Issuing as if spewed out.
| 1616 Surfl. & Markh. Country Farme v. x. 540 These Oxen are fittest for those soyles which are tough and firme, without anie spewing moisture in them. 1675 Evelyn Philos. Disc. Earth (1676) 86 Cutting your Furrow..about a foot beneath the spewing water. 1786 Burns Vision iii, The spewing reek That fill'd, wi' hoast-provoking smeek, The auld, clay biggin. |