cough Hear it!

cough Definition

cough (kôf)

intransitive verb

  1. to expel air suddenly and noisily from the lungs through the glottis, either as the result of an involuntary muscular spasm in the throat or to clear the air passages
  2. to make a sound like this

Etymology: ME coughen, akin to MDu cuchen, to cough, Ger keuchen, to gasp

transitive verb

  1. to expel by coughing
  2. to express or utter by coughing

noun

  1. the act or sound of coughing
  2. a condition, as of the lungs or throat, causing frequent coughing

cough Related Forms

cough′er noun

cough Idioms

cough up

  1. to bring up or eject (phlegm, food, etc.) by coughing
  2. ☆ Slang to hand over (money or the like)

cough Synonyms

cough

n.

hem, hack, tussis, frog in one's throat*; see cold 3, disease.

cough Synonyms

cough

v.

choke, hack, convulse, bark*; see choke 2.

cough Usage Examples

Object

  • shortness: Breathing problems, coughing, shortness of breath and wheezing improve.
  • bout: Walter smoked a pipe for a good many years, but following a coughing bout put the pipe away for good.

Converse of object

  • vaccinate: Paddy is neutered, micro-chipped, kennel cough vaccinated, wormed and inoculated.
  • irritate: A child with mild asthma may have an irritating cough each night, but is often fine during the day.
  • sneeze: What about if you sneeze, cough or laugh?
  • soothe: The product is used to soothe tickly, dry coughs, and helps to unblock a stuffy nose.

Adjective modifier

  • whooping: Anyone who has been vaccinated or has suffered from whooping cough will have a degree of immunity to the disease.
  • micro-chipped: Dogs are spayed/castrated, micro-chipped, kennel cough vaccinated, wormed and inoculated before leaving us.
  • chesty: A productive, or chesty cough makes you feel like you want to bring up mucus or phlegm by coughing.
  • spayed/castrated: Dogs are spayed/castrated, micro-chipped, kennel cough vaccinated, wormed and inoculated before leaving us.
  • spayed/neutered: Unless there are mitigating circumstances, all dogs are spayed/neutered, micro-chipped, kennel cough vaccinated, wormed and inoculated before leaving us.
  • tickly: Snoopy is still suffering from a tickly cough for which she is being treated with a course of antibiotics.

Modifies a noun

  • suppressant: Cough suppressants containing codeine should be avoided in the third trimester.
  • syrup: Carry a few bottles of " Benadryl " cough syrup containing the choicest liquor.
  • mixture: Various cough mixtures on the market do the trick for different people.
  • vaccine: Every dog that comes here must have the kennel cough vaccine 14 days prior to entry.
  • medicine: Fred said his father used to make cough medicine.

Noun used with modifier

kennel: How can I stop my dog getting kennel cough?

Possessives

smoker: Heart of gold, somewhere in there, along with the purple hair and the smoker's cough.

Particle object:

phlegm: Tuesday - Angela She has a nasty problem with coughing up phlegm!