What is to make an effort to vomit; to strain, as in vomiting. [Written also reach.] Beloved Julia, hear me still beseeching! (Here he grew inarticulate with retching.) Byron called?

retch — To make an effort to vomit; to strain, as in vomiting. [Written also reach.] Beloved Julia, hear me still beseeching! (Here he grew inarticulate with retching.) Byron. (Webster's 1913.)

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