cough
Pronunciation
  • (RP) IPA: /kɒf/
    • (Conservative RP) IPA: /kɔːf/
  • (America) enPR: kôf, IPA: /kɔf/
  • (cot-caught, Canada) enPR: kŏf, IPA: /kɑf/
Verb

cough (coughs, present participle coughing; past and past participle coughed)

  1. (intransitive) To push air from the lungs in a quick, noisy explosion.
    I breathed in a lungful of smoke by mistake, and started to cough.
  2. (transitive, sometimes followed by "up") To force something out of the throat or lungs by coughing.
    Sometimes she coughed (up) blood.
  3. (intransitive) To make a noise like a cough.
    The engine coughed and sputtered.
Translations Translations Noun

cough (plural coughs)

  1. A sudden, usually noisy expulsion of air from the lungs, often involuntary.
    Behind me, I heard a distinct, dry cough.
  2. A condition that causes one to cough; a tendency to cough.
    Sorry, I can't come to work today – I've got a nasty cough.
  3. Used to focus attention on a following utterance, often a euphemism or an attribution of blame
    He was – cough – indisposed.
Synonyms Translations Translations


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