Definitions by picky-picky etymologist
the dry boak
The Scotland/Northern Ireland idiom for gagging without vomiting.
NOTE: The idiom is *the* dry boak. It it never *a* dry boak.
It is from this idiom that the word boak escaped to take on a life of its own (along with the alternate spelling boke) -- with some people using boak (or boke) to mean "the dry boak," and others meaning normal vomiting.
NOTE: The idiom is *the* dry boak. It it never *a* dry boak.
It is from this idiom that the word boak escaped to take on a life of its own (along with the alternate spelling boke) -- with some people using boak (or boke) to mean "the dry boak," and others meaning normal vomiting.
"It would huv gied ye the dry boak tae hear them sookin up tae him, aw sweetie sweetie." (Anne Donovan, Hieroglyphics: And Other Stories, 2001)
the dry boak by picky-picky etymologist August 26, 2008
boke
Often mistakenly defined online as the act itself, in Scottish and Northern Irish slang boke refers to the gagging stage when you feel you're about to, just before actually puking.
boke by picky-picky etymologist June 17, 2008