throw up

verb

threw up; thrown up; throwing up; throws up

intransitive verb

: vomit

transitive verb

1

: vomit

2

: to raise quickly

3

: to build hurriedly

new houses thrown up almost overnight

4

: give up, quit

… the urge … to throw up all intellectual work …

—Norman Mailer

5

: to bring forth : produce

6

: to make distinct especially by contrast : cause to stand out

7

: to mention repeatedly by way of reproach

Phrases

throw up one's hands

: to admit defeat

I finally threw up my hands thinking, "enough is enough."

—Debby Efurd

Synonyms of throw up

• vomit
• hurl

Examples of throw up in a Sentence

she must have eaten something that didn't agree with her because she threw up right after dinner

when the townspeople realized that the President's motorcade would be coming through on its way to the conference, they threw up a hasty “Welcome” sign

Recent Examples on the Web

But the clip suddenly switched—and all of a sudden showed two wild deer, one standing by the leaf pile, and the second jumping and playing in it, throwing up leaves with its snout, kicking and bucking, and playing just as a human child would. —Rachael O'Connor, MSNBC Newsweek, 4 Dec. 2025

Other symptoms also include loss of appetite and a fear of throwing up. —Vanessa Etienne, PEOPLE, 4 Dec. 2025

Schumer first attracted attention for her weight loss after wiping her Instagram page in November and throwing up a new first post, a carousel of photos of the comedian posing in a red dress around her home. —Ryan Coleman, Entertainment Weekly, 4 Dec. 2025

The illness, as yet undiagnosed, made her vomit sharply, as if throwing up bullets. —Luis Pascal, Miami Herald, 28 Nov. 2025

Word History

First Known Use

15th century, in the meaning defined at transitive sense 2

Rhymes for throw up

• backup
• blowup
• breakup
• buildup
• checkup
• cleanup
• holdup
• hookup
• lineup
• lockup
• makeup
• markup

Kids Definition

throw up

verb

1

: to build or raise hurriedly or quickly

threw up the window

2

: to give up : quit

just wanted to throw the whole thing up

3

: vomit entry 2 sense 1

Medical Definition

throw up

intransitive verb

ˌthrō-ˈəp 

: vomit