throw up, v. — Green’s Dictionary of Slang

throw up v.

1. (also throw up one’s guts) to vomit [abbr. throw up one’s accounts ].

1732		J. Arbuthnot Nature of Ailments (1735) 313: It is easy to judge of the Cause by the Substances which the Patient throws up .
1797		M. Leeson Memoirs (1995) III 222: I drank four ounces of thebiad tincture [...] I found myself extremely weak; grew sick in my stomach and threw up a deal of stuff.
1839		T. Haliburton Letter-bag of the Great Western (1873) 33: We have lots of land lubbers on board [...] swindlers who ‘cut and run’ — military men who ‘surrender at discretion’ – boys that quarrel, and ‘throw up at cards.’.
1843		R.S. Surtees Handley Cross (1854) 264: ‘Threw up’ doesn’t mean vomitin’ mind, but standin’ starin’ with their ’eads up.
1864		M. Lemon Jest Book 252: A friend remarking to Plunkett how sick of his promotion the passage must have made the new comer; ‘Yes,’ replied the ex-chancellor, ruefully, / ‘But it won’t make him throw up the seals.’.
1889		Dead Bird (Sydney) 12 Oct. 2/2: ‘This ceaseless toil is enough to make a man throw up the sponge’ [...] ‘I’ve been hunting the house over for that sponge since Sunday. What on earth did you swallow it for?’.
1904		G.M. Hewett Rat 185: They put down a slow poison, which a dog or cat can throw up, [...] but which will certainly kill a rat, just because he cannot vomit.
1912		R.W. Brown ‘Word-List From Western Indiana’ in DN III:viii 592: throw up, v. To vomit. ‘He ate some green apples and I think he’s going to throw up.’.
1925		Dos Passos Manhattan Transfer 355: I cant eat anything without throwin up.
1938		joke cited in G. Legman Rationale of the Dirty Joke (1968) I 102: I played with your dolly all night. It’s funny though. When I touched it, it sat up, then it stood up, then it threw up, then it fainted.
1949		‘Hal Ellson’ Duke 4: You throw up the first time and feel dizzy.
1958		W. Talsman Gaudy Image (1966) 164: You can’t drink that all day [...] That sweetness hits me right where I throw up.
1967		L. Bruce Essential Lenny Bruce 57: The fellow throwing up on the waitress’s tits.
1970		B. Oakley Salute to the Great McCarthy 160: I [...] there, in my one true home, my bedroom and toilet, throw up my guts.
1978		S. King Stand (1990) 244: Bring the basin. I think I’m going to throw up!
1985		J. Sullivan ‘Sleeping Dogs Lie’ Only Fools and Horses [TV script] Makes you wanna throw up don’t it?
1993		K. Lette Foetal Attraction (1994) 93: The first time I gave a blow job [...] I threw up.
2003		P. Cornwell Blow Fly (2004) 20: Oh shit! I’m gonna throw up.
2011		IOL News (Western Cape) 9 June 🌐 The boy claimed he was forced to perform oral sex to adults. ‘It tasted bad. I wanted to throw up’.
2015		S. King Finders Keepers (2016) 252: D’you think you’re done throwing up?
2017		T. Spicer Good Girl Stripped Bare 121: ‘Skolling then throwing up’.

2. to express one’s allegiance to a gang; to make the crew’s hand sign or to place one’s name on a piece of graffiti; also in non-gang contexts, e.g. one’s home.

1985		T.R. Houser Central Sl. 53: throw-up-the-set Showing the gang set, or handsign.
2001		(con. 1990s) in J. Miller One of the Guys 67: ‘[What makes it a gang is] the name, the way we write it, the stackin’, the prayer, the throwin’ it up’.
2002		The NG Team 🌐 Graffiti is a form of expression the inner city youth use to express their god given artistic talents, and their defiance against the cities authority [...] Throw up your name and crew into fame cause that’s the game we play, so what you gonna say?
2007		Young Jeezy ‘White Girl’ 🎵 Blowing my smoke, throwing up the fours (oh!).
2016		Jeezy ‘Goldmine’🎵 He throwing up his hood cause it's a gold mine / He said he'll never leave.

In phrases

throw up at (someone) (v.) (also throw up to someone)

(Aus.) to criticize someone.

1926		N.Z. Truth 4 Feb. 5/4: [H]e was always ‘slinging off’ at his wife and ‘throwing up other women at her’.
[1932		C. McKay Gingertown 64: Ain’t nobody wanting their bad points thrown up to them as nasty as that].
1934		J. O’Hara ‘Except in My Memory’ in Harper’s Bazaar Nov. 149: [A]ll the time we were married Mel never once threw it up to me about Joe, so as far as he knew Joe might as well have been dead.
1959		D. Hewett Bobbin Up (1961) 18: Don’t you sling shit at me,’ she shrieked. ‘Don’t you throw up at me about the kids on the State and one dead.’.

throw up one’s accounts (v.) [var. on cast up one’s accounts under cast v.]

to vomit.

1763

C. Johnston Reverie I 135: Challenging him to fight, and before he can be on the guard, hitting him a plump in the bread-basket, that shall make him throw up his accounts .

throw up one’s boots (v.)

(US) to vomit intensely.

1867		‘Mark Twain’ Alta Calif. 15 Mar. 🌐 Last night, as usual, Isaac intruded upon the Captain’s dog-watch lunch – which is, or should be, sacred to himself – and got into trouble. One of the passengers put something into his tea that came near making him throw up his boots.
1873		W.H. Thomes Bushrangers 17: ‘How long,’ he asked, ‘must I suffer with this gol darned sickness? I feel as though I should throw up my boots.’.

throw up one’s guts (v.)

to confess.

2010

(con. 1973) C. Stella Johnny Porno 317: He’s probably throwing up his guts right now [...] which means they’re gonna come knocking on my door.

throw up one’s heel-taps (v.) (also throw up one’s toes, ...one’s toenails) [vomit up one’s toenails v.]

(US) to vomit copiously.

1905		J.W. Carr ‘Words from Northwest Arkansas’ in DN III:i 98: throw up one’s toenails, throw up one’s toes, v. phr. To vomit vehemently and copiously. ‘It made me so sick at my stomach, I threw up my toenails.’.
1914		G.D. Chase ‘Further Word-Lists – Maine’ in DN IV:ii 153: throw up one’s heel taps, v. phr. To vomit. ‘The egg was so bad I liked to throw up my heeltaps.’.

throw up one’s ring (v.)

see spew one’s ring under ring n.