different between spew vs spec

English

Etymology

From Middle English spewen, from Old English sp?wan, from Proto-Germanic *sp?wan?, from Proto-Indo-European *(s)pty?w- (“to spit, vomit”); Germanic cognates include English spit, West Frisian spije, Dutch spuwen, Low German speen, spiien, German speien (“to spew, spit, vomit”), Swedish spy, Danish spy, Faroese spýggja, Gothic ???????????????????????????? (speiwan). Also cognate, through Indo-European, with Latin spu? (“spit”, verb), Ancient Greek ???? (ptú?, “spit, vomit”), Albanian fyt (“throat”), Armenian ???? (t?uk?), Russian ???????? (plevát?), Persian ??? (tuf), Sanskrit ??????? (??h??vati).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /spju?/
• Rhymes: -u?

Verb

spew (third-person singular simple present spews, present participle spewing, simple past spewed, past participle spewed or spewn)

1. (transitive) To eject forcibly and in a stream,
   • 2014 December 11, Megan Willett, "The 16 Most Disappointing Places To Visit On Earth", Business Insider UK:

     But you get to the beach via monorail and you get to the sand and look out to the ocean and all you see is oil tankers and factories spewing smoke on the horizon. It was like some sort of futuristic dystopia.

2. (intransitive) To be forcibly ejected.
3. (transitive) To speak or write quickly and voluminously, especially words that are not worth listening to or reading.
4. (intransitive) To be written or spoken voluminously.
5. (intransitive, informal) To vomit.
6. (intransitive) To ejaculate.
   • 17th century, widely attributed to John Wilmot, 2nd Earl of Rochester:

     I rise at eleven, I dine about two, I get drunk before seven, and the next thing I do; I send for my whore, when for fear of a clap, I spend in her hand, and I spew in her lap
7. (intransitive, leather-working) To develop a white powder or dark crystals on the surface of finished leather, as a result from improper tanning.

Related terms

• spew alert

Translations

Noun

spew (uncountable)

1. (slang) Vomit.
   • 2001, Douglas Maddon, The English Department's Whores (page 247)

     Poor old Sedgwick had been chased around the rugger pitch by a lunatic in a car, and then seen his researcher covered in spew from a drunken student.
2. (slang) Ejaculate or ejaculation.
3. Nonsense or lies.
4. Material that has been ejected in a stream, or the act of spewing.
5. A white powder or dark crystals that appear on the surface of improperly tanned leather.
6. Adhesive that is squeezed from a joint under pressure and held across the joint by a fillet, thereby strengthening the joint.

Derived terms

• Belyando spew
• bespew

Translations

References

• spew at OneLook Dictionary Search
• spew in The Century Dictionary, New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., 1911.

Anagrams

• EWPs, PEWs, pews

Middle English

Verb

spew

1. Alternative form of spewen

English

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /?sp?k/
• Homophone: speck

Noun

spec (plural specs)

1. (colloquial) Clipping of specification.

2. (colloquial) Clipping of speculation.
3. Clipping of specialization.
4. Clipping of specialist.
5. Clipping of special.
6. (linguistics) Abbreviation of specifier.
7. (linguistics) Clipping of specifier.
8. (dialect) a special place (for hiding or viewing)
9. (Australia, Australian rules football, informal) A spectacular mark (catch) in Australian rules football.

Derived terms

• on spec

Translations

Verb

spec (third-person singular simple present specs, present participle speccing, simple past and past participle specced)

1. (transitive) To specify, especially in a formal specification document.

Translations

Anagrams

• CEPs, CPEs, CSPE, ECPs, EPCs, PESC, Pécs, ceps, pecs

Albanian

Etymology

Borrowed from Italian spezie (“spices”), ultimately from Latin speci?s.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /sp?t?s/

Noun

spec m (indefinite plural speca, definite singular speci, definite plural specat)

1. (botany) pepper (Capsicum annuum)
2. paprika
3. (adjective) cranky

Declension

Synonyms

• piperkë
• gogozhare

References