Green’s Dictionary of Slang

1. (US campus) to ejaculate.

c.1673		Dorset ‘The Debauchee’ in Works of Rochester, Roscommon, Dorset (1720) n.p.: I send for my whore, when for fear of a clap, / I stand in her hand, and I spew in her lap.
a.1674		Rochester ‘The Argument’ Poems on Several Occasions (1680) 37: I th’ Twelfth Time in Kill-pricks Arse, did spew.
1684		Rochester (attrib.) Sodom 1st Prologue: And make him sick, by friging till he spews / a sweet Revenge.
1709		N. Chorier (trans.) of Meursius ‘The Delights of Venus’ in Cabinet of Love (1739) 198: Then with a lusty Thrust – spewe’d [...] and all my Womb bedew’d.
1890–1904		Farmer & Henley Sl. and Its Analogues.
1987		in Delacoste & Alexander Sex Work (1988) 47: Ugh, how can you let them spew that stuff into your mouth.
1989		P. Munro Sl. U.

2. to speak, esp. to confess, thus insulting nickname spewgag.

1794		‘Peter Pindar’ ‘A Rowland for an Oliver’ Works (1794) II 433: Madam, can you speak Latin? – No, not much – I think you principally spew High-Dutch.
1848		Boston Blade 10 June n.p.: You had better keep your nose clean before you open your mouth, old spew gag.
1861		N.E. Police Gaz. (Boston, MA) 12 Oct. 8/3: His old titles of sucker and spewgag still cling to him .
1865		Leaves from Diary of Celebrated Burglar 77/1: I had ‘tumbled’ from the first that this was another dodge to entice me to ‘spew’ something. [Ibid.] 90/1: I had often found that a little ‘lush’ would make them ‘spew’ their hearts up.
1937		J. Curtis You’re in the Racket, Too 41: When the old boy starts spewing it up like that saying he’s going to be mustard, don’t you know what he means?
1943		H.A. Smith Life in a Putty Knife Factory (1948) 130: They spew out hogwash and sheep-dip from day to day, and they accept large sums of money for their daily drool.
1968		K. Brasselle Cannibals 219: He finally spewed out the question that had been churning in his mind.
1977		S. Berkoff East in Decadence and Other Plays (1985) 56: Plethoras of witty verbiage spewing from my gutter mouth.
1985		S. Berkoff West in Decadence and Other Plays (1985) 113: Comes then spewing through the radio some idiot.
1999		Guardian G2 19 July 15: He was accused of spewing mystical psychobabble.
2000		M. Collins Keepers of Truth 232: Ed raised his eyes in [...] appreciation for the kind of bullshit I can spew on most subjects.

3. (N.Z. prison, also spew on) to inform on, to betray.

1982		G. Newbold Big Huey 254: spew (on) (v) [...] 2. Betray.
2024		C. Stella Joey Piss Pot 180: [in fig. use] ‘Either your cock is loaded and ready to spew or it’s not’.

4. (Aus./N.Z./US black) to argue angrily, to let loose a diatribe.

1982		Bulletin 18 May 41: ‘Chicks’ olds use to spew when their daughters went round wiv surfers’, said a Bondi guy proudly, ‘but now the whole scene’s gone straight.’.
1982		G. Newbold Big Huey 118: Brian [...] was spewing over them [...] saying they were eggrolls and lashers and weaklings, for failing to stick fat.
1990		Tupper & Wortley Aus. Prison Sl. Gloss. 🌐 Spew. To complain bitterly, especially about a perceived injustice.
1999		D. Looser ‘Boob Jargon’ in NZEJ 13 35: spew (on) v. 1. To be angry or annoyed.
2003		Bug (Aus.) Nov.–Dec. 🌐 Then you had him spewing because his son gets cut from the Cronulla playing ranks.

5. (NZ prison) to regret an unguarded statement or confession.

1999

D. Looser ‘Boob Jargon’ in NZEJ 13 35: spew (on) v. 2. To be extremely worried about having told someone something you shouldn’t have.