Definition of "cough"

(transitive)

1. Sometimes followed by up: to force (something) out of the lungs or throat by pushing air from the lungs through the glottis (causing a short, explosive sound), and out through the mouth.  quotations  examples

   Quotations

   • Jeeves coughed one soft, low, gentle cough like a sheep with a blade of grass stuck in its throat, and then stood gazing serenely at the landscape.

     1923 May 17, P[elham] G[renville] Wodehouse, “The Great Sermon Handicap”, in The Inimitable Jeeves, Harmondsworth, Middlesex [London]: Penguin Books, published 1979, page 139

2. To cause (oneself or something) to be in a certain condition in the manner described in sense 1.1.  examples

3. To express (words, etc.) in the manner described in sense 1.1.  quotations  examples

   Quotations

   • No ſtationary ſteeds / Cough their ovvn knell, vvhile heedleſs of the ſound / The ſilent circle fan themſelves, and quake.

     1785, William Cowper, “Book IV. The Winter Evening.”, in The Task, a Poem, […], London: […] J[oseph] Johnson; […], pages 144–145

4. (figurative)

   1. To surrender (information); to confess.  examples

   2. (originally US, slang) Chiefly followed by up: to give up or hand over (something); especially, to pay up (money).  quotations

      Quotations

      • By the time you get back the men will all be striking out for the fire, and we'll break for the house and collar the dollars. Everybody cough up what matches he's got.

        1909 April, O. Henry [pseudonym; William Sydney Porter], “Whistling Dick’s Christmas Stocking”, in Roads of Destiny, Garden City, N.Y.: Doubleday, Page & Company, page 324

      • Thanks to Jeeves I was not going to be called on to cough up several thousand quid.

        1923 May 17, P[elham] G[renville] Wodehouse, “Pearls Mean Tears”, in The Inimitable Jeeves, Harmondsworth, Middlesex [London]: Penguin Books, published 1979, page 40

      • "Parsloe, will you or will you not cough up that pig?" / "I have not got your pig."

        1929 March–August, P[elham] G[renville] Wodehouse, “A Job for Percy Pilbeam”, in Summer Lightning, 1st UK edition, London: Herbert Jenkins […], published 19 July 1929, page 148

(intransitive)

1. To push air from the lungs through the glottis (causing a short, explosive sound) and out through the mouth, usually to expel something blocking or irritating the airway.  quotations  examples

   Quotations

   • Yet notwithſtandyng all this geare, / thou cougheſt ſtill, perdy / Ye are a craftie knaue, you cough / to fare deliciouſly.

     1577, Martial, “Epigrammes out of Martial. [To Parthenope.]”, in Timothe Kendall, transl., Flowers of Epigrammes […], [Manchester]: […] [Charles Simms] for the Spenser Society, published 1874, pages 56–57

   • Leave procreants alone, and ſhut the dore, / Coffe, or cry hem, if any body come, […]

     c. 1603–1604 (date written), William Shakespeare, The Tragœdy of Othello, the Moore of Venice. […] (First Quarto), London: […] N[icholas] O[kes] for Thomas Walkley, […], published 1622, [Act IV, scene ii], page 70

   • "Did your lordship's servant see Simon Glover and his daughter?" said Henry, struggling for breath, and coughing, to conceal from the Provost the excess of his agitation.

     1828 May 15, [Walter Scott], chapter X, in Chronicles of the Canongate. Second Series. […] (The Fair Maid of Perth), volume III, Edinburgh: […] [Ballantyne and Co.] for Cadell and Co.; London: Simpkin and Marshall, page 259

   • But often, when thy face [i.e., that of a horse] is turned from the stable, thou hast an unaccountable desire to place it in the position occupied by thy tail: thou stoppest, coughest, shyest, and erst, with swift detorsion, turnest round, then, with sidelong glance of my magic caduceus, ominously wagging between the horizon and thy ample sides, I incite thee on, but rarely does thy pace more than trot, from home.

     1835 January 23 (date written), Frederic James Post, “A Discourse Touching Rides and Riding”, in Extracts from the Diary and Other Manuscripts of the Late Frederic James Post, of Islington. […], London: […] [James Moyes] for private circulation, published 1838, pages 331–332

   • Tossivi / Tu tossais / Thou coughedst]

     , A[ngelo] Renzi, “Verbi. Verbes. Verbs.”, in Le polyglotte improvisé, ou l’art d’écrire les langues sans les appendre. […], Paris: Chez l‘auteur, […]; Chez Baudry, […], et Chez les Principaux Libraries, page 498

   • After this he fell a-coughing violently, and Stanbury thought it better to leave him.

     1869 May, Anthony Trollope, “Trevelyan Discourses on Life”, in He Knew He Was Right, volume II, London: Strahan and Company, […], page 336

   • "But it is unfortunate—you find me at the moment—" and he stopped short and coughed.

     1918, W[illiam] B[abington] Maxwell, chapter XXXI, in The Mirror and the Lamp, Indianapolis, Ind.: The Bobbs-Merrill Company, page 246

   • I drew a deep breath, and a moment later wished I hadn't, because I drew it while drinking the remains of my gin and tonic. “Does Kipper know of this?“ I said, when I had finished coughing.

     1960, P[elham] G[renville] Wodehouse, chapter XI, in Jeeves in the Offing, London: Herbert Jenkins

2. To make a noise like a cough.  quotations  examples

   Quotations

   • Wake up, by-and-by, and look to see what done it, and maybe see a steamboat, coughing along up stream, so far off towards the other side you couldn't tell nothing about her only whether she was stern-wheel or side-wheel; then for about an hour there wouldn't be nothing to hear nor nothing to see—just solid lonesomeness.

     1884 December 10, Mark Twain [pseudonym; Samuel Langhorne Clemens], chapter XIX, in The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn: (Tom Sawyer’s Comrade) […], London: Chatto & Windus, […], pages 169–170

3. (originally US, slang) To surrender information; to confess, to spill the beans.

A sudden, often involuntary expulsion of air from the lungs through the glottis (causing a short, explosive sound), and out through the mouth.  quotations  examples

A bout of repeated coughing (verb sense 2.1); also, a medical condition that causes one to cough.  quotations  examples

(figurative) A noise or sound like a cough (sense 1).  examples

Used to represent the sound of a cough (noun sense 1), especially when focusing attention on a following utterance, often an attribution of blame or a euphemism: ahem.  examples