retch v.

1540s, "to clear the throat, to cough up phlegm" (a sense now obsolete), from Old English hræcan "to cough up, spit" (related to hraca "phlegm"), from Proto-Germanic *khrækijan (source also of Old High German rahhison "to clear one's throat"), of imitative origin (compare Lithuanian kregėti "to grunt"). Meaning "make efforts to vomit" is from 1850; sense of "to vomit" is attested by 1888. Related: Retched; retching.