Etymology Perhaps imitative. Akin to Dutch jakkes (“disgusting”). First appeared in the 1960s. Compare also Scots yeuk (“anything that disgusts”), Middle English yuke (“an itchy skin disease" akin to middle Dutch "joke" and modern Dutch "jeuk"”) .
1
Uttered to indicate disgust usually toward an objectionable taste or odour.
Etymology Perhaps imitative. Akin to Dutch jakkes (“disgusting”). First appeared in the 1960s. Compare also Scots yeuk (“anything that disgusts”), Middle English yuke (“an itchy skin disease" akin to middle Dutch "joke" and modern Dutch "jeuk"”) .
1
Something disgusting.
I fetched an orange from a basket and peeled it […] “Make sure you peel as much of the yuck off as possible,” she said. “I hate the yuck."2003 December 8, The New Yorker:
Alright, settle down, you yucks!2018 November 11, “Stand by Meg”, in Family Guy, season 17, episode 6:
yuck
verb
Etymology Perhaps imitative. Akin to Dutch jakkes (“disgusting”). First appeared in the 1960s. Compare also Scots yeuk (“anything that disgusts”), Middle English yuke (“an itchy skin disease" akin to middle Dutch "joke" and modern Dutch "jeuk"”) .
1
To say "yuck"; to express disgust.
I yucked and yicked and spit in the dirt .1994, Linda Shands, A Time to Keep, page 37:
Dom was yucking and yelling. He was clumsy and barely got as many with two hands as Mouse did with one.1997, Walter Mosley, Gone Fishin': An Easy Rawlins Novel, page 79:
4 more examples
He was yucking loudly at the plate in front of him.2015, Alan Pinkett, Utta Drivel Too, page 47:
I shall tell the other one which cream to apply first and then the steps in order, but no yucking will I tolerate.2015, Paulette, Echoes of Color, page 511:
We are not interested in yucking anyone's yum or shaming anyone who has fantasies or fetishes about ideas of this reallife violence.2016, Matthew Ball, Thomas Crofts, Angela Dwyer, Queering Criminology:
We collected birds' eggs, gingerly plucking them from nests high in the trees and holding the eggs in our mouths as we used both hands to climb back down; sometimes they'd crack and the bitter taste of the contents would have us yucking for hours.2016, Margaret Court, Margaret Court: The Autobiography:
2
To vomit or gag;
She thought it was overpoweringly gross and yucked great dribbles over the front of her lace blouse .1987, Martyn Godfrey, Sandra Scott, It Isn't Easy Being Ms Teeny Wonderful, page 130:
And she yucked. She forced herself to eat again. And again she yucked.2011, Gregory Dark, Susie and the Snow-it-alls, page 138:
1 more example
As he yucked his guts up mere feet from the little passageway, all of John's shame came crumbling down upon him.2021, Glenn Rolfe, August's Eyes:
I can see these pro-lifer's screams of “Stop killing the foetus” turn to “I ain't taking no mother yucking nickker home to my mother yucking house."2004, Michael Atkinson, Life Is Amazing, page 365:
But when I was out there, I yucked up everything.2009, Joan Hiatt Harlow, Secret of the Night Ponies, page 107:
1 more example
Boy, you sure as hell yucked this up.2010, Don L. Clark, Magy la Magnifica, page 28:
yuck
noun
Etymology 1930s theatrical slang, probably Imitative. Compare the variant yuk.
1
The sound made by a whole-hearted laugh.
Given this insecurity, the creators of “The Simpsons” took an extraordinary risk: they decided not to use a laugh track. On almost all other sitcoms, dialogue was interrupted repeatedly by crescendos of phony guffaws (or by the electronically enhanced laughter of live audiences), creating the unreal ebb and flow of sitcom conversation, in which a typical character’s initial reaction to an ostensibly humorous remark could only be to smile archly or look around while waiting for the yucks to die down.2000 March 13, The New Yorker:
yuck
verb
Etymology 1930s theatrical slang, probably Imitative. Compare the variant yuk.
1
Often, Followed by "up" To laugh or joke.
And I so miss the laughs we yucked when I used to point out to you the irony of people's names in town .2006, Joseph George Hayes, A Map of the Harbor Islands, page 299:
His buddies yucked and laughed as they motored away.2006, Dan Bomkamp, Thanks Thunderfoot, page 99:
2 more examples
Ori wiped his cheek and yucked again.2014, Caroline Adderson, Jasper John Dooley: NOT in Love:
The whole room yucked and tittered.2018, Sarah Sparrow, A Guide for Murdered Children, page 130:
Briggs yucked the mare about, and she stood straight up seven or eight times.1886, English Dialect Society, Publications - Volume 25, page 171:
I took it bad when it were lifted and yucked into a truck and shifted1945, Mark Lemon, Henry Mayhew, Tom Taylor, Punch - Volume 209, page 393:
1 more example
Bey don't leave me bey, f***k that other nigga mjay and let me talk to you (I yucked my hand away and kept on walking)(Can we date this quote?), M. J. King, My Big Brother's Best Friend, page 127:
Amy tells us that her husband, Jim Nelson, is deployed to Afghanistan […] as a nuclear operations officer — a result of graduating from the Naval Postgraduate School in December 2007 with a master's in Applied Physics. I guess I should have been looking for Jim to partner up with for physics help as a Yuck!2008, United States Military Academy. Association of Graduates, Assembly (volume 67, issues 1-4, page 126)