cough

Meaning

Verb

1. (transitive) 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.
2. (transitive) To cause (oneself or something) to be in a certain condition in the manner described in sense 1.1.
3. (transitive) To express (words, etc.) in the manner described in sense 1.1.
4. (figuratively, transitive) To surrender (information); to confess.
5. (figuratively, slang, transitive) Chiefly followed by up: to give up or hand over (something); especially, to pay up (money).
6. (intransitive) 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.
7. (intransitive) To make a noise like a cough.
8. (intransitive, slang) To surrender information; to confess, to spill the beans.

Noun

1. A sudden, often involuntary expulsion of air from the lungs through the glottis (causing a short, explosive sound), and out through the mouth.
2. A bout of repeated coughing (verb sense 2.1); also, a medical condition that causes one to cough.
3. (figuratively) A noise or sound like a cough (sense 1).
4. A vocalisation from a bird or other animal resembling a human cough.

Intj

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.

Synonyms

coughing

cold

🥶

catarrh

hack

have a cough

clear one’s throat

clear the throat

give a cough

tussis

cough up

hoop

expectorate

hawking

head cold

hem

keep quiet

rasp

sneeze

sneezing

spit

have a sore throat

wheeze

gargle

whoop

whooping cough

a cough

utter aham

clear throat

clearing one’s throat

sob convulsively

asthma

bronchitis

chill

choke

cough out

emaciated

wheezing

influenza

hacking

malaria

Translations

tousser

toux

tos

toser

Husten

tossire

tosse

husten

hoest

tossir

βήχας

hoesten

tosse

βήχω

Pronounced as (IPA)

/kɒf/

Etymology

Inherited from Middle English: coughen

Inherited from Old English: *cohhian

Cognate with Old English: cohhetan

Cognate with Middle Dutch: cuchen

Cognate with Dutch: kuchen

Cognate with Middle High German: kûchen

Cognate with German: keichen

Cognate with Spanish: cof

Cognate with Western Frisian: kiche

Inherited from Middle English: cough

In summary

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”)