puke
Americanverb (used with or without object)
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pukes,
present (3rd person singular)
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puked,
past participle, past
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puking
present participle
noun
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vomit.
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any food or drink that is repulsive.
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anything or anyone that is contemptible or worthless.
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verb
noun
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the act of vomiting
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the matter vomited
Usage
What does puke mean? Puke is one of the many informal ways to refer to vomit.
Other Word Forms
Inflected Forms
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
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pukesimple
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pukessimple
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have pukedperfect
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has pukedperfect
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am pukingprogressive
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are pukingprogressive
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is pukingprogressive
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have been pukingperfect progressive
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has been pukingperfect progressive
Past
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pukedsimple
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had pukedperfect
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was pukingprogressive
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were pukingprogressive
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had been pukingperfect progressive
Future
Etymology
Origin of puke
First recorded in 1590–1600; perhaps imitative of the sound
Vocabulary lists containing puke
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
See Examples For:
It’s going to be a long, hot summer for getting COVID, the measles, and milk-borne puke diseases!
From Slate ● Apr. 26, 2025
I was telling my caddie Austin that I felt pretty calm coming down the stretch and he said he was about to puke on the 18th tee!
From BBC ● Jul. 21, 2024
Cleaning up after the birds is an awful job: “Two to 3 inches of guano, these birds puke a lot, you get your flies, maggots — it makes you gag,” McFadden said.
From Seattle Times ● Jan. 21, 2024
Guy ran flat-out for 200 yards, so full of primal terror that a fountain of puke started erupting out of his guts all over the fairway as he was running.
From Salon ● Nov. 13, 2023
With other students gathering around us, whispering, my stomach tightens, a little puke comes up, burning my throat.
From "Free Lunch" by Rex Ogle
The puteketeke, a bird that pukes, grunts, growls and has bizarre mating rituals, won New Zealand’s bird of the century title in a competition where American-British comedian John Oliver's involvement has ruffled some local feathers.
From Reuters ● Nov. 20, 2023
She aspires to be a newscaster but is so camera shy she spectacularly pukes when the red light goes on.
From Seattle Times ● Aug. 1, 2023
A scene or two later, the woman has come down with a sudden case of the pukes.
From Salon ● Aug. 12, 2019
“We were talking last night about how everything the baby does — even if it pukes everywhere — you say, ‘Good job!’”
From New York Times ● Jan. 2, 2019
“If anyone pukes, the other squadron wins,” Bull shouted above the din.
From "The Great Santini" by Pat Conroy
“I about puked when I saw number 13,” Street said.
From Los Angeles Times ● Feb. 11, 2026
Nobody puked during one of the slasher films, and the eccentric local we refer to as “the velvet suit guy” behaved himself, for the most part.
From Salon ● Apr. 8, 2024
“Even a couple days after, he grabbed his head and said it was too full of thoughts. And then he puked everywhere.”
From Washington Post ● Apr. 1, 2023
That’s when I caught a case of severe norovirus and puked so hard that my water broke.
From Slate ● Jan. 13, 2022
Your mouth opens and you get a real heave going, and swallow another wave of rancid smell, and that’s when I bent over and puked right into the trench.
From "Everything Sad Is Untrue" by Daniel Nayeri
Filled with terms like gamma and vol puking, market dispatches from the strategist the FT once described as a “meat-powered market mystic” do not make for easy reading.
From MarketWatch ● Nov. 14, 2025
Their top red-zone target was limited, and their defensive leader, Kamari Ramsey, was up all night puking.
From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 27, 2025
During their first conversation another lady starts puking everywhere.
From Salon ● Apr. 8, 2024
"They are weird puking birds with colourful mullets. What's not to love here?"
From BBC ● Nov. 14, 2023
I wanted to say yes, yes, but instead I pushed her away and vomited in her beautiful kitchen, puking foul brown puke into a bowl of tainted water.
From "Anthem of a Reluctant Prophet" by Joanne Proulx
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Get a wordDefinitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
