coughed

Verb

cough (third-person singular simple present coughs, present participle coughing, simple past and past participle coughed)

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.
   • Sometimes she coughed up blood.
2. (transitive) 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. (transitive) 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
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).
   • 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
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.
   • I breathed in a lungful of smoke by mistake, and started to cough.

See all 13 meanings of cough