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”)
Medicine, Sciences 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.1923 May 17, P[elham] G[renville] Wodehouse, “The Great Sermon Handicap”, in The Inimitable Jeeves, Harmondsworth, Middlesex [London]: Penguin Books, published 1979, →ISBN, page 139:
2
Medicine, Sciences 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.
3
Medicine, Sciences 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.1785, William Cowper, “Book IV. The Winter Evening.”, in The Task, a Poem, […], London: […] J[oseph] Johnson; […], →OCLC, pages 144–145:
Medicine, SciencesFiguratively, Slang 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.1909 April, O. Henry [pseudonym; William Sydney Porter], “Whistling Dick’s Christmas Stocking”, in Roads of Destiny, Garden City, N.Y.: Doubleday, Page & Company, →OCLC, 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, The Inimitable Jeeves, London: Herbert Jenkins, →OCLC, page 40:
1 more example
"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, →OCLC, section II, page 148:
6
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.1577, Martial, “Epigrammes out of Martial. [To Parthenope.]”, in Timothe Kendall, transl., Flowers of Epigrammes […], [Manchester]: […] [Charles Simms] for the Spenser Society, published 1874, →OCLC, pages 56–57:
4 more examples
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, →OCLC, [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, →OCLC, 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, →OCLC, pages 331–332:
Tossivi / Tu tossais / Thou coughedst[[1840], A[ngelo] Renzi, “Verbi. Verbes. Verbs.”, in Le polyglotte improvisé, ou l’art d’écrire les langues sans les appendre. […] [The Improvised Polyglot, or The Art of Writing Languages without Learning Them. […]], Paris: Chez l‘auteur, […]; Chez Baudry, […], et Chez les Principaux Libraries, →OCLC, page 498:
7
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.1884 December 10, Mark Twain [pseudonym; Samuel Langhorne Clemens], chapter XIX, in The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn: (Tom Sawyer’s Comrade) […], London: Chatto & Windus, […], →OCLC, pages 169–170:
8
Slang To surrender information; to confess, to spill the beans.
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.
1
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: […]1640, John Parkinson, “Cyperus dulcis rotundus esculentus, Trasi dulce vocatus. The Most Delicate Sweet Cyperus, or Rush Nut.”, in Theatrum Botanicum: The Theater of Plants. Or, An Herball of a Large Extent: […], London: […] Tho[mas] Cotes, →OCLC, page 148:
4 more examples
The lumpiſh husband ſnoar'd avvay the night, / Till coughs avvak'd him near the morning light.1709, Alexander Pope, “January and May; or, The Merchant’s Tale, from Chaucer”, in The Works of Mr. Alexander Pope, volume I, London: […] W[illiam] Bowyer, for Bernard Lintot, […], published 1717, →OCLC, page 223:
Dwining ventured to give a low cough once or twice, by way of signal; […]1828 May 15, [Walter Scott], chapter I, 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, →OCLC, page 12:
One saint's day in mid-term a certain newly appointed suffragan-bishop came to the school chapel, and there preached on “The Inner Life.” He at once secured attention by his informal method, and when presently the coughing of Jarvis and another boy interrupted the sermon, he altogether captivated his audience with a remark about cough lozenges being cheap and easily procurable.1918, W[illiam] B[abington] Maxwell, chapter V, in The Mirror and the Lamp, Indianapolis, Ind.: The Bobbs-Merrill Company, →OCLC, page 26:
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 Inimitable Jeeves, London: Herbert Jenkins, →OCLC, page 139:
2
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.
2 more examples
[John] Fal[staff]. VVhat diſeaſe haſt thou? / [Peter] Bul[lcaff]. A horſon cold ſir, a cough ſir, vvhich I cought vvith ringing in the Kings affaires vpon his coronation day ſir.c. 1596–1599 (date written), William Shakespeare, The Second Part of Henrie the Fourth, […], quarto edition, London: […] V[alentine] S[immes] for Andrew Wise, and William Aspley, published 1600, →OCLC, [Act III, scene ii]:
Cough! you don't need to tell me about a cough. I've always been subject to a cough, all my days. […] O! Eva's cough is not anything.1851 June – 1852 April, Harriet Beecher Stowe, “Foreshadowings”, in Uncle Tom’s Cabin; or, Life among the Lowly, volume II, Boston, Mass.: John P[unchard] Jewett & Company; Cleveland, Oh.: Jewett, Proctor & Worthington, published 20 March 1852, →OCLC, page 81:
3
Figuratively A noise or sound like a cough (etymology 2, noun sense 1).
4
A vocalisation from a bird or other animal resembling a human cough.
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.
1
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.