"Boak" is a Scots word that means "retch" (or vomit), and like retch it can be used as a verb, i.e. "that makes me want to boak" means "that makes me want to retch", but it can also be used as a noun, as in the phrase "that gies (gives) me the boak", which means the same thing, effectively changing boak from a verb meaning "retch" to a noun meaning "the desire to retch" or "the impulse to retch"
You couldn't say "that gives me the retch" in standard English. Is there an equivalent word that can be used in both ways? Dialect and slang words would be helpful if there isn't a standard English word, but I'd need to know where they are used
Best Answer
Puke is both verb and noun.
Hence:
He puked after drinking too much and
he left a pool of puke on the ground.
Although it satisfies your title question, it does not work in the more restricted sense you mention of “gives me the boak”, although you might say “… gives me the vomits”, a phrase that is easily found in online search but interestingly is couched in the plural. Nevertheless, vomit is another candidate, being both verb and noun.