Word.ws English Dictionary

coughing

coughing is the present participle and gerund of cough.

Noun

coughing (plural coughings)

  1. A cough; the act of coughing.
    • The good signor's little address was received in a variety of ways: there were titterings and coughings, and there were also a few instances of noble and generous response to poor Leonard's action […]1855, Anna Mary Howitt, A school of life, page 63
    • "I've been directed here to find Miss Susan Pike," the man outside explained, between fresh coughings. ¶ "Well, then, mog your boots out of this as quick as ever you can!" my Aunt replied, with great promptitude. "You won't find her here!"1894, Harold Frederic, “My Aunt Susan”, in Marsena and Other Stories of the Wartime, New York, N.Y.: Charles Scribner's Sons, page 200
  2. A repetitive vocalisation of a bird or other animal that resembles human coughing.
    • The nocturnal sounds of the mountains were new to him, yet they fell upon his ears like the soft voice of a half-forgotten love. Many he intuitively sensed—ah, there was one that was familiar indeed; the distant coughing of Sheeta, the leopard; but there was a strange note in the final wail which...1913, Edgar Rice Burroughs, The Return of Tarzan, New York: Ballantine Books, published 1963, page 81

Meaning of cough

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

Forms of coughing

pluralcoughings

Phrases with coughing

Questions about coughing

What does coughing mean?
Coughing means a cough; the act of coughing.
What is coughing the present participle and gerund of?
Coughing is the present participle and gerund of cough.
What part of speech is coughing?
Coughing is a noun.
What is the plural of coughing?
The plural of coughing is coughings.

Words near coughing in the dictionary

  1. cougher
  2. coughers
  3. coughest
  4. cougheth
  5. coughin'
  6. coughing
  7. coughing down
  8. coughing out
  9. coughing over
  10. coughing up
  11. coughingly

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: coughing (page history and authors); cough (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

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Cite this entry: “coughing.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/coughing. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.