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ahem (third-person singular simple presentahems, present participleahemming, simple past and past participleahemmed)
To cough or clear one's throat so as to draw attention.
1856, Louise Chandler Moulton, Juno Clifford, page 108:
He wouldn't have been suspected of crying for the world, but he coughed and ahemmed, and finally turned away without speaking.
1858, The Peninsular and Independent Medical Journal, page 153:
A full inspiration, preparatory to hawking, ahemming, or premeditated careful coughing, would excite an explosion of an unusually violent and persistent cough, hurrying the breath out of the poor victims.