dry-heave
dry-heave verb: to attempt to vomit with the ejection of only gas.
Verb
dry-heave (third-person singular simple present dry-heaves, present participle dry-heaving, simple past and past participle dry-heaved)
- To attempt to vomit with the ejection of only gas.
- I followed as he hobbled toward the bathroom, and my father barely made it to the toilet before he started dry-heaving, knees spread on the tile.2020, Bryan Washington, Memorial, Atlantic Books (2021), page 162
- The venue manager was the happiest I’ve ever seen him. I smiled, trying to mirror his enthusiasm then excused myself to dry heave in the toilets.2021 August 13, Fern Brady, “Hot shame, dry heaving and dream audiences: a standup’s return to Edinburgh fringe”, in The Guardian, →ISSN
Noun
dry-heave (plural dry-heaves)
- An attempt to vomit that ejects only gas.
- She spent three days in the college infirmary trying to contain her overwhelming feelings of nausea and despair. Every morning for months, she would awake with the dry heaves.1980 December 6, Cindy Rizzo, “Jewish, Lesbian, Feminist, Psychologist, Author—All of the above and more”, in Gay Community News, volume 8, number 20, page 8
- Frequent prayer, interludes of bird-watching and a timely outbreak of dry heaves helped Henry Paulson save the American financial system from collapse, in spite of a stark lack of co-operation from Britain, according to a newly published memoir from President Bush's treasury secretary.2010 February 1, Andrew Clark, “On prayer, birds and dry heaving - the testing of Henry Paulson”, in The Guardian, →ISSN
- Synonyms:
- dry vomit
Synonyms of dry-heave
Forms of dry-heave
| Verb | |
|---|---|
| third-person singular present | dry-heaves |
| present participle | dry-heaving |
| past participle | dry-heaved |
| past | dry-heaved |
| alternative form | dry heave |
| Noun | |
| plural | dry-heaves |
Questions about dry-heave
- What does dry-heave mean?
- Dry-heave means to attempt to vomit with the ejection of only gas.
- What part of speech is dry-heave?
- Dry-heave can be a verb or a noun.
- What is the past tense of dry-heave?
- The past tense of dry-heave is dry-heaved.
Words near dry-heave in the dictionary
Source and license
Adapted from Wiktionary: dry-heave (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.
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Cite this entry: “dry-heave.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/dry-heave. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.