regurgitate

/rɪˈgʌrdʒɪteɪt/

/rɪˈgʌdʒɪteɪt/

Other forms: regurgitated; regurgitating; regurgitates

To regurgitate is to bring already swallowed food back up through one's throat and out the mouth. Not so nice in humans, but much more understandable (if still gross) in birds — who feed their baby chicks by regurgitating.

Finished cramming for your exam? Ready to do a data dump? Then you're about to regurgitate all you've learned — repeat information verbatim without any real understanding or analysis of it. Don't worry, everyone does it, from high school and college students, to grown-ups in corporate boardrooms.

Definitions of regurgitate

1. verb

   pour or rush back
   “The blood regurgitates into the heart ventricle”

   type of:

   pour

   flow in a spurt
2. verb

   eject the contents of the stomach through the mouth
   “The patient regurgitated the food we gave him last night”

   synonyms: barf, be sick, chuck, disgorge, throw up, vomit, vomit up

   type of:

   egest, eliminate, excrete, pass

   eliminate from the body
3. verb

   feed through the beak by regurgitating previously swallowed food
   “many birds feed their young by regurgitating what they have swallowed and carried to the nest”

   type of:

   feed, give

   give food to
4. verb

   repeat after memorization
   “For the exam, you must be able to regurgitate the information”

   synonyms: reproduce

   type of:

   echo, repeat

   to say again or imitate