cough

Meanings

1. 1
   verb

   to exhale abruptly, as when one has a chest cold or congestion

   The smoker coughs all day.

2. 2
   verb

   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.

   Sometimes she coughed up blood.

3. 3
   verb

   To cause (oneself or something) to be in a certain condition in the manner described in etymology 1 sense 1.1.

   He almost coughed himself into a fit.

4. 4
   verb

   To express (words, etc.) in the manner described in etymology 1 sense 1.1.

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

5. 5
   verb

   Chiefly followed by up: to give up or hand over (something); especially, to pay up (money).

   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.

6. 6
   verb

   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.

   I breathed in a lungful of smoke by mistake, and started to cough.

7. 7
   verb

   To make a noise like a cough.

   The engine coughed and sputtered.

8. 8
   noun

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

   Behind me, I heard a distinct, dry cough.

Etymology

From Middle English coughen, coghen (“to cough; to vomit”) [and other forms], from Old English *cohhian (compare Old English cohhetan (“to bluster; to riot; to cough (?)”)), from Proto-West Germanic *kuh- (“to cough”), ultimately of onomatopoeic origin. Cognates * Middle Dutch cuchen (“to cough”) (modern Dutch kuchen (“to cough”); German Low German kuchen (“to cough”)) * Middle High German kûchen (“to breathe (on); to exhale”), kîchen (“to breathe with difficulty”) (modern German keichen, keuchen (“to breathe with difficulty; to gasp, pant”)) * Spanish cof (“coughing sound”) * West Frisian kic…