1542 T. Elyot Bibliotheca Screatus, tus, spettynge or retching to spitte [1538 rechyng to spyt].

1543 J. Hales tr. Plutarch Preceptes Preseruacion Healthe sig. evii^v The retchynges and violent commocions of the pores and spirites, dooe impresse & leaue behinde theim certain remaines.

1548 T. Cooper Bibliotheca Eliotæ (rev. ed.) Excreo, to spette out with retchyng.

1607 E. Topsell Hist. Foure-footed Beastes 515 The same medicine..is very profitable for those which are troubled with a..blooddy spetting out with retching.

1623 H. Cockeram Eng. Dict. i Excreation, a retching or spitting out.

1663 R. Bayfield Τῆς Ἰατρικῆς Κάρτος cxii. 163 A Ptyalism, is a frequent and involuntary spitting and spawling, without any cough, or retching, proceeding from a superfluity and over-great store of spittle.

1703 tr. G. Della Casa Galateo of Manners 12 It is also indecent to raise Flegm, or fetch Water off your Stomach with hawking or retching.

1705 F. Fuller Medicina Gymnastica 7 Sneezing; to which frequently is join'd Gauping or Retching.

1771 T. Smollett Humphry Clinker II. 247 Most of the passengers were seized with a nausea that produced violent retchings.

1777 Philos. Trans. 1776 (Royal Soc.) 66 547 The symptoms..were universal lassitude and weakness, followed by a retching.

1792 R. Bage Man as he Is I. xv. 163 A woman was holding the head of a poor man, in an agony of retching.

1797 E. Home Pract. Observ. Treatm. Strictures in Urethra I. (ed. 2) vii. 506 The frequent retching arising from the phlegm collected between the stricture and the stomach.

1801 Med. & Physical Jrnl. 5 540 He had also nausea and retching, violent head-ach.

1845 G. Budd On Dis. Liver 295 The water abates the severity of the retching.

1899 T. C. Allbutt et al. Syst. Med. VIII. 84 A feeling of nausea..often going on to violent retching.

1935 ‘A. Bridge’ Illyrian Spring xviii. 237 ‘I'm going to be sick again!’ He was—with retchings of great violence.

1967 J. B. Keane Lett. of Successful TD (1968) vi. 48 He gets fits of empty retching and I'm after him to see a doctor.

1987 ‘J. Gash’ Moonspender (1988) xxiv. 221 He cackled, his beer fetor making me hold my breath to avoid retching.

2002 Nat. Health Oct.–Nov. 71/1 Nux vomica is good if there is ineffectual retching without actual vomiting.

1844 T. J. Farnham Trav. Calif. ii. 23 Tipping his roguish face, bloated with the effort of a retching stomach, over the taffrail.

1846 Proc. World's Temperance Convent. Introd. p. xi The retching victim of his own appetite.

1861 Chambers's Jrnl. 16 Feb. 106/2 With a retching, sea-sick stomach, he gapes to receive the unholy morsel.

1948 M. Farber Blackstone & White Rock i. 20 Afterward, when my father had..poured two gallons of black coffee down his retching throat, the judge solemnly took the pledge of moderation.

1971 Lincoln (Nebraska) Star 21 Aug. 5/2 Like a retching drunk finding comfort by getting as low to the ground as possible.

1992 R. Hill Recalled to Life xxxii. 318 He dragged the retching man into the bathroom.

2005 Gazette (Montreal) (Nexis) 16 Sept. a7 A bus ride after the bars close—in the company of retching drunks, hacking smokers and saliva-trading sweethearts—is no night at the beach.

1856 S. W. Williams Tonic Dict. Chinese Lang. in Canton Dial. 592/2 A retching cough.

1952 C. Beaton Diary 4 Nov. in Self Portrait with Friends (1979) xviii. 246 Big Ben struck twelve, military orders were shouted in rasping, retching voices.

1963 E. W. Parks Nashoba v. 136 He took the gasping, retching girl gently in his arms.

1997 Independent (Nexis) 24 Sept. 1 An Electra..who can't emit the word ‘mother’ except as a retching croak.

2005 S. Collins I am Nero (2007) iv. 52 There is a heavy breeze drawing the smoke up and away, and the cacophony of retching lungs fills my ears.