boak

B3O1A1K5
/bəʊk/

verb

To burp.

RareScrabble 10

Meanings

boak1

verbboak (third-person singular simple present boaks, present participle boaking, simple past and past participle boaked)

present singular third person boaks · participle present boaking · participle past boaked · past boaked

  1. obsoleteTo burp.
  2. ScotlandTo retch or vomit.

    She had to keep stopping to spit gobbits of rising boak into sinks and old tea mugs.

    2020, Douglas Stewart, Shuggie Bain
    4 more examples

    — God sake... god sake... Mr Houston repeated as Mrs Houston boaked and I made a pathetic effort to mop some of the mess back into the sheets.

    1994 [1993], Irvine Welsh, Trainspotting, London: Minerva, →ISBN, page 94

    I was going to boak: I made the window and opened it but most of the sickness hit the window-sill in a heap.

    1997, Alan Warner, Movern Callar

    He’d skipped breakfast—didn’t like the idea of boaking it back up on the flight.

    1999, Ian Rankin, Black and Blue

    I think it was at this moment that Patricia lurched from the table, informing everyone that she was going to be sick and indeed was as good as her word, throwing up before reaching the door (‘Heinrich, fetch a clout — the lassie’s boaked!’).

    1999, Kate Atkinson, Behind the Scenes at the Museum

Boak2

proper nounBoak (plural Boaks)

plural Boaks · alternative Boyack

Synonyms & antonyms

Origin

boak · verb

  1. Proto-Germanic*belkaną“to belch”
  2. Old Englishbealcian“to belch, utter, bring up, sputter out, pour out, give forth, emit, come forth”
  3. Middle Englishbolken“to belch, vomit”
  4. Englishboak

From Middle English bolken (“to belch, vomit”), from Old English bealcian (“to belch, utter, bring up, sputter out, pour out, give forth, emit, come forth”), from Proto-Germanic *belkaną (“to belch”), ultimately imitative. Cognate with Dutch balken and bulken (“to bellow”), German bölken (“to roar”). See also belch.

Full word history & related roots →

Boak · proper noun

Scottish surname, probably related to boak (“ridge”).

Full word history & related roots →

Rhymes & wordplay

Rhymes with boak

All rhymes →
Cite this entry
APA

boak. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 2, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/boak

MLA

“boak.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/boak. Accessed November 2, 2026.

Chicago

WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “boak,” accessed November 2, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/boak.

Source: boak on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.