cough

verb

to reflexively clear large breathing passages
say in a coughing manner
cough, hack, quickly pushing air from the lungs

L4536 on Wikidata ↗

noun

medical symptom, reflex to clear large breathing passages
cough, hack, quickly pushing air from the lungs

L4537 on Wikidata ↗

Wiktionary

Pronunciation: /kɒf/ / /kɔːf/ / /kɔf/

intj

Etymology: The noun is derived from Middle English cough (“a cough; illness causing coughing”) [and other forms], from coughen (verb): see etymology 1. The interjection is probably derived from the noun.

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.
“He was—cough—indisposed.”

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.”
“[I]t conduceth helpe to the crudities, humidities, and vvindineſſe of the ſtomacke and belly, and to helpe the ſhortneſſe of breath and coughes: […]”
A bout of repeated coughing (verb etymology 1 sense 2.1); also, a medical condition that causes one to cough.
“whooping cough”
“Sorry, I can’t come to work today—I’ve got a nasty cough.”
A noise or sound like a cough (etymology 2, noun sense 1).
A vocalisation from a bird or other animal resembling a human cough.

verb

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 kiche (“to cough”), kochelje (“to cough persistently”)

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.”
“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.”
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.”
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.”
To surrender (information); to confess.
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.”
“Thanks to Jeeves I was not going to be called on to cough up several thousand quid.”
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.”
“Yet notwithſtandyng all this geare, / thou cougheſt ſtill, perdy / Ye are a craftie knaue, you cough / to fare deliciouſly.”
To make a noise like a cough.
“The engine coughed and sputtered.”
“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.”
To surrender information; to confess, to spill the beans.