Lexic.us

Definition of Cough up

1. Verb. Give reluctantly. "He coughed up some money for his children's tuition"

2. Verb. Discharge (phlegm or sputum) from the lungs and out of the mouth.

Definition of Cough up

1. Verb. to expel from the lungs, throat, etc. by coughing ¹

2. Verb. (idiomatic) to pay money, to disburse, usually reluctantly or with difficulty. ¹

3. Verb. (idiomatic) to lose a competition by one's own mistakes, usually near the end of the contest ¹

4. Verb. (transitive idiomatic) To spill, to fumble ¹

¹ Source: wiktionary.com

Lexicographical Neighbors of Cough Up

cougarlike cougars cough cough drop cough fracture cough mixture cough mixtures cough out cough reflex cough suppressant

cough syrup cough syrups cough up (current term) coughdrop coughdrops coughed coughed up cougher coughers coughing

coughing up coughingly coughings coughs coughs up coughy couguar

Literary usage of Cough up

Below you will find example usage of this term as found in modern and/or classical literature:

1. Transactions of the Association of American Physicians by Association of American Physicians (1897)
"(A) The patient, a male, aged forty-nine years, commenced to cough up bile in the latter part of March, and this continued until June, when it gradually ..."

2. Lectures on practical medicine and pathology, 1894 by Francis Delafield (1894)
"But these cases must be looked on with suspicion. A woman may cough up blood on several occasions instead of menstruating and then go ..."

3. A Text-book of Materia Medica and Therapeutics, Characteristic, Analytical by Allen Corson Cowperthwaite (1909)
"Mastitis. Respiratory Organs.—Loss of voice; hoarseness. Asthma, with gastric derangements; mucus white and hard to cough up. ..."

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