different between squirt vs spew

English

Etymology

From Middle English squirten, squyrten, of uncertain origin; probably imitative. Akin to swirl. Compare Low German swirtjen (“to squirt”).

(This etymology is missing or incomplete. Please add to it, or discuss it at the Etymology scriptorium. Particularly: “Whence the "child" sense?”)

Pronunciation

• (General American) IPA^(key): /skw?t/
• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /skw??t/
• Rhymes: -??(?)t

Noun

squirt (countable and uncountable, plural squirts)

1. An instrument from which a liquid is forcefully ejected in a small, quick stream.
2. A small, quick stream; a jet.
   • 2007, Peter Elst, Sas Jacobs, Object-Oriented ActionScript 3.0, page 9,

     Chances are you?ll get a squirt of citrus juice in your eye.

3. (hydrodynamics) The whole system of flow in the vicinity of a source.
4. A burst of noise.
5. (slang) An annoyingly pretentious person; a whippersnapper. [From 1839.]
   • 1946, Robert Penn Warren, All the King?s Men, 2005, page 606,

     He was still there when I came up, a squirt with his hat over one eye and a camera hung round his neck and a grin on his squirt face. I thought maybe I had seen him around town, but maybe not, the squirts look so much alike when they grind them out of journalism school.

6. (Britain, US, Australia, slang) A small child.

   Hey squirt! Where you been?

   • 1986, Alethea Helbig, Agnes Perkins, Cutlass Island, entry in Dictionary of American Children?s Fiction, 1960-1984: Recent Books of Recognized Merit, page 137,

     Hurd returns with Mal, Mr. Eph, and Gumbo, the “town squirt” of twelve, and the boys? activities come out.

   • 2010, Karen Witemeyer, A Tailor-Made Bride, Bethany House Publishers, US, page 66,

     How the child managed to converse and fold at the same time was a marvel, yet the shirt lay in a tidy rectangle by the time she came up for air.

     “Thanks, squirt.” He winked at her and she giggled.

7. (slang, vulgar, uncountable) Female ejaculate.
8. (informal) A piss.

   Excuse me, I need to take a squirt.

Synonyms

• (instrument that forcefully ejects liquid):
• (small, quick stream):
• (annoyingly pretentious person):
• (small child): anklebiter

Derived terms

• sea squirt
• squirt bottle

Translations

Verb

squirt (third-person singular simple present squirts, present participle squirting, simple past and past participle squirted)

1. (intransitive, of a liquid) To be thrown out, or ejected, in a rapid stream, from a narrow orifice.

   The toothpaste squirted from the tube.

   • 1865, Sabine Baring-Gould, The Book of Werewolves, 2008, Forgotten Books, page 121,

     His servants would stab a child in the jugular vein, and let the blood squirt over him.

2. (transitive, of a liquid) To cause to be ejected, in a rapid stream, from a narrow orifice.
   • 1985, The Living Australia, Dangerous Australians: The Complete Guide to Australia?s Most Deadly Creatures, 2002, Murdoch Books, page 88,

     It can squirt this poison in jets up to a distance of one metre and usually aims at the eyes of its victim.

   • 2005, Lisa Heard, NancyRayhorn, 8: Pediatric Sedation, Jan Odom-Forren, Donna Watson, Practical Guide To Moderate Sedation/Analgesia, 2nd Edition, page 171,

     When administering the medication, the RN should place the syringe tip along the side of the mouth and slowly squirt the medicine toward the buccal vestibule, not toward the throat.

   • 2011, James Balch, Mark Stengler, Prescription for Natural Cures, unnumbered page,

     Use a dropper and squirt the desired amount in the side of the child?s mouth.

3. (transitive) To hit with a rapid stream of liquid.
   • 2010, Christy Isbell, Mighty Fine Motor Fun: Fine Motor Activities for Young Children, page 81,

     Ask the child to squirt the target with water.

4. (transitive, figuratively, obsolete) To throw out or utter words rapidly; to prate.
5. (intransitive, slang, vulgar, of a female) To ejaculate.
   • 2010, Sonia Borg, Oral Sex She?ll Never Forget, page 9,

     Women who squirt rhapsodize about the experience, reporting that it elicits feelings of empowerment and a deeper connection to their own bodies.

Synonyms

• (to be ejected in a rapid stream):
• (to cause to be ejected in a rapid stream):
• (to eject a rapid stream at):
• (to speak rapidly):
• ((of a female) to ejaculate):

Related terms

• squirter

Translations

Anagrams

• quirts

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