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cough up. In DICTIOUS you will not only get to know all the dictionary meanings for the word
cough up, but we will also tell you about its etymology, its characteristics and you will know how to say
cough up in singular and plural. Everything you need to know about the word
cough up you have here. The definition of the word
cough up will help you to be more precise and correct when speaking or writing your texts. Knowing the definition of
cough up, as well as those of other words, enriches your vocabulary and provides you with more and better linguistic resources.
English
Etymology
From cough + up.
Verb
cough up (third-person singular simple present coughs up, present participle coughing up, simple past and past participle coughed up)
- To expel from the lungs, throat, etc. by coughing.
He was coughing up blood.
He was coughing up a lung. [idiomatic, figurative]
- (idiomatic, transitive, informal) To reluctantly or unwillingly give.
- (of money) To pay or disburse reluctantly (perhaps influenced by coffers of money).
Do you think he'll be able to cough up the three grand by Tuesday?
- Synonyms: shell out, fork out, fork over
- Coordinate term: come up with
2006, K. M. Soehnlein, You Can Say You Knew Me When, page 240:" […] Usually businessmen. Married, middle-aged guys who'll cough up fifty bucks to smoke my pole."
- (of other objects) To hand over, give.
- 2013, The Big Bang Theory, season 6, episode 14:
- Cough it up, Cooper.
- (idiomatic) To lose a competition by one's own mistakes, usually near the end of the contest.
That team had the game won, but they coughed it up in the end.
- (transitive, idiomatic) To spill, to fumble.
2011, Tom Fordyce, Rugby World Cup 2011: England 12-19 France:England had never before come back to win from a margin of more than 12 points, and the errors continued to come thick and fast as Tom Croft became the latest to cough up the ball.
Translations
to lose by one's own mistakes
See also