throw up

British  

verb

1. to give up; abandon, relinquish

2. to build or construct hastily

3. to reveal; produce

   every generation throws up its own leaders

4. informal (also intr) to vomit

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throw up Idioms  

1. Vomit, as in The new drug makes many patients throw up . [First half of 1700s]

2. Abandon, relinquish, as in After the results of the poll came in, she threw up her campaign for the Senate .

3. Construct hurriedly, as in The builder threw up three houses in a matter of a few months . [Late 1500s]

4. throw it up to . Criticize, upbraid, as in Dad was always throwing it up to the boys that they were careless and messy . [Early 1800s]

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Example Sentences

"It's so bad. Like, if you saw a human skull in this way, you'd throw up."

From Science Daily • Apr. 15, 2026

Second marriages often throw up these kinds of financial dilemmas for blended families.

From MarketWatch • Apr. 7, 2026

Yet, “Pretty Lethal” is packed with run-don’t-walk folly that demands to be seen to be believed — if only to throw up your hands and say, “I guess!”

From Salon • Mar. 29, 2026

One drone he pilots can throw up an effective cloak of invisibility against electronic onslaughts, but others he has trained on don’t hold up well in that domain, he said.

From The Wall Street Journal • Dec. 13, 2025

In high school he pursued track, pushing himself so hard he’d throw up at the finish line, and played tennis.

From "Mountains Beyond Mountains" by Tracy Kidder and Michael French