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Ralph

//ɹælf// name, noun, verb, slang

Definitions

Proper Noun
  1. 1
    A male given name from the Germanic languages.

    "There were none fine but Adam, Ralph, and Gregory: / The rest were ragged, old, and beggarly"

  2. 2
    A surname originating as a patronymic.
  3. 3
    Fictional person used in references to vomiting. slang

    "He's outside calling Ralph [i.e. vomiting]."

  4. 4
    An unincorporated community in Harding County, South Dakota, United States.
  5. 5
    An unincorporated community in Webster County, West Virginia, United States.
Noun
  1. 1
    A raven. UK, obsolete, regional
Verb
  1. 1
    To vomit. slang

Etymology

Etymology 1

US 1960s, of uncertain origin, apparently derived from a use of the male name Ralph, but perhaps imitative.

Etymology 2

From Middle English Radulf, from Old English Rǣdwulf (also as Raulf), from Proto-West Germanic *Rādawulf, from Proto-Germanic *Rēdawulfaz. Reinforced by similar forms brought to England, e.g. Old Norse Ráðúlfr, then in the Norman form Old French Radulf, Radulph. For the sense relating to vomiting, see ralph.

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