barf, n. — Green’s Dictionary of Slang

barf n.

1. (US) vomit, an act of vomiting; thus fig. something disgusting.

1966		Current Sl. I:2 1/1: Barf n. Vomit or anything objectionable.
1974		J. Lahr Hot to Trot 206: He didn’t have to wipe up your barf.
1985		Totally True Diaries of an Eighties Roller Queen 🌐 20 Apr. When I got up all I could smell was barf. Then I got up and barfed down the stairs. I couldn’t hold it back.
1991		C. Hiaasen Native Tongue 254: Jake Harp looked about as healthy as dog barf.
1991		D. Jenkins You Gotta Play Hurt 276: ‘Boy, what a barf that fight was. Old Pork Chop mommied up to the canvas as soon as the bell rang’.
2009		T. Black Gutted 16: I’d [...] copped for a barf.
2013		T. Black Ringer [ebook] n.p.: No one likes the smell of barf.
2014		K. Barrett ‘Thirty Dollars’ in ThugLit Sept. [ebook] It's all broken trucks and heat waves off the pavement and barf in the road.

2. attrib. use of sense 1.

1972		M. Rodgers Freaky Friday 3: Francie’s Fortified Fish Fingers. Barf time!
1977		J. Sayles Union Dues (1978) 279: Happily hugging the toilet all night long with your barf buddies.
1995		J. Stahl Permanent Midnight 41: The night after the transcendental barf-fest, I again spotted the Girl in White.
2005		J. Stahl I, Fatty 114: The people we trusted [...] came over to empty my barf buckets.

3. (US, also barbecued barf) any form of repulsive food.

1963		Dundes & Schonhorn ‘Kansas University Sl.: A New Generation’ in AS XXXVIII:3 174: Individual items on the college menu include barf ‘beef stew’.
1966		Current Sl. I:2 1/1: Barbequed barf Dormitory or dining hall food.
1969		Current Sl. I & II 7: Barbequed barf, n. Dormitory or dining hall food. College males, Texas.
1998		(con. 1967) Allan D. Hunter ‘Clea and Allan’ 🌐 Tony pushes the boys’ bathroom door open and walks to a urinal. Greg comes in behind him. ‘What is it today? Barbecued barf again?’.

4. (US campus) an ugly young woman.

1967–8

Baker et al. CUSS.

In derivatives

barfulous (adj.) [orig. computing use]

(US campus) repellent, disgusting.

1995		Jargon File (2001) 🌐 barfulous adj. (alt. ‘barfucious’) Said of something that would make anyone barf, if only for esthetic reasons.
2002		slangsite.com 🌐 barfulous: adj., Said of something that would make someone barf (or be violently sick). Example: 1. The girls living next door to me thought that the flattened squirrel in our road was truly barfulous.

barfy (adj.) (US campus/teen)

1. nauseating, repulsive.

1957		F. Kohner Gidget (2001) 9: My English comp teacher [...] that barfy looking character.
1960		G. Swarthout Where the Boys Are 154: They are [...] so barfy to look at they can never get dates.
1981		J. Wambaugh Glitter Dome (1982) 181: Nobody would pick up anybody as barfy-looking as you.

2. feeling ill, nauseous.

1963		F. Kohner Affairs of Gidget 70: When I set it down in cold type I feel barfy and embarrassed.
1967–8		Baker et al. CUSS 77: Barfy Have a minor illness, feel sick.

In compounds

barfbag (n.)

1. (US) an air-sickness bag, as provided on air flights.

1967		E. Shepard Doom Pussy 92: A small brown envelope containg a plastic barf bag.
1980		A. Maupin More Tales of the City (1984) 132: You wanna start carrying barf bags?
1989		H. Rawson Dict. of Invective (1991) 36: The term has been elaborated into barf bag, a paper convenience for airline passengers who have been overcome by what the airlines choose to call ‘motion sickness’.
2000		Guardian Rev. 3 Mar. 27: Thanks to bad word-of-mouth (and bulging barf-bags too, I’ll wager).

2. (also barf-brain) used as an insult.

1972		J. Wambaugh Blue Knight 219: Get out of my park, you barfbags.
1997		T. Winton Lockie Leonard, Legend (1998) 168: ‘I’m not up with you, Egg. What’s on?’ ‘Dot Cookson, barf-brain.’.
2002		(con. 1980s) i80s.com 🌐 barf bag A type of insult. Something Jo on The Facts of Life might of called Blair for spilling something on her homework.

barf city (n.) [-city sfx]

(US teen) anything particularly unpleasant.

2002

‘Valley Girls’ on Paranoiafanzine 🌐 Maybe I’ll ask this total marv in my math class to type it for me. [...] I bet he’ll do it too, cause I think he totally likes me. Barf city!

barf-face (n.)

(US) an unattractive male.

1990

Tampa Trib. (FL) 7 Mar. 1F/2: Ugly male — barf-face.

In phrases

barf on a board (n.) (also barf on a bun) [note synon. US milit. jargon ‘shit on a shingle’]

(US) chipped creamed beef on toast.

1968		J.H. Brunvand Study Amer. Folklore 299: ‘Tuna Wiggle,’ ‘Barf on a Board,’ and other traditional names for institutional cooking [HDAS].
1972		(con. 1950s) Jacobs & Casey Grease I ii: Wait’ll you have the chipped beef. Better known as ‘Barf on a Bun.’.

spin-and-barf ride (n.)

any form of amusement park ride that, through its extremes of motion, renders the rider likely to vomit.

1999		Guardian Guide 29 May–4 June 29: Managing a fun park entails more than just whacking up the most recent spin-and-barf ride.
2001		‘Randy Everhard’ Tattoo of a Naked Lady 134: The poor bastard wasn’t made for these spin-and-barf rides.