cough
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English
[edit]Pronunciation
[edit]- (Received Pronunciation)IPA(key):/kɒf/
Audio(Southern England): (file) - (Conservative RP)IPA(key):/kɔːf/
- (General American)enPR:kôf,IPA(key):/kɔf/
Audio(General American): (file) - (cot–caughtmerger)enPR:kŏf,IPA(key):/kɑf/
- Homophone:qoph(cot–caughtmerger)
- Rhymes:-ɒf,-ɔːf
Etymology 1
[edit]FromMiddle Englishcoughen,coghen(“to cough; to vomit”)[and other forms],fromOld English*cohhian(compareOld Englishcohhetan(“to bluster; to riot; to cough (?)”)), fromProto-West Germanic*kuh-(“to cough”),ultimately ofonomatopoeicorigin.[1]
cognates
- Middle Dutchcuchen(“to cough”)(modernDutchkuchen(“to cough”);German Low Germankuchen(“to cough”))
- Middle High Germankûchen(“to breathe (on); to exhale”),kîchen(“to breathe with difficulty”)(modernGermankeichen,keuchen(“to breathe with difficulty; to gasp, pant”))
- Spanishcof(“coughing sound”)
- West Frisiankiche(“to cough”),kochelje(“to cough persistently”)
Verb
[edit]cough(third-person singular simple presentcoughs,present participlecoughing,simple past and past participlecoughed)
- (transitive,medicine)
- Sometimes followed byup:toforce(something) out of thelungsorthroatbypushingairfrom the lungs through theglottis(causingashort,explosivesound), and out through themouth.
- Sometimes shecoughedup blood.
- 1923May 17,P[elham] G[renville] Wodehouse,“The Great Sermon Handicap”, inThe Inimitable Jeeves,Harmondsworth, Middlesex[London]:Penguin Books,published1979,→ISBN,page139:
- Jeevescoughedone soft, low, gentle cough like a sheep with a blade of grass stuck in its throat, and then stood gazing serenely at the landscape.
- Tocause(oneself or something) to be in acertainconditionin themannerdescribedinsense 1.1.
- He almostcoughedhimself into a fit.
- Toexpress(words,etc.) in the manner described insense 1.1.
- 1785,William Cowper,“Book IV. The Winter Evening.”, inThe Task, a Poem,[…],London:[…]J[oseph]Johnson;[…],→OCLC,pages144–145:
- No ſtationary ſteeds /Coughtheir ovvn knell, vvhile heedleſs of the ſound / The ſilent circle fan themſelves, and quake.
- (figurative)
- Tosurrender(information); toconfess.
- (originallyUS,slang)Chiefly followed byup:togive uporhand over(something); especially, topay up(money).
- 1909April,O. Henry[pseudonym; William Sydney Porter], “Whistling Dick’s Christmas Stocking”, inRoads of Destiny,Garden City, N.Y.:Doubleday, Page & Company,→OCLC,page324:
- By the time you get back the men will all be striking out for the fire, and we'll break for the house and collar the dollars. Everybodycoughup what matches he's got.
- 1923May 17,P[elham] G[renville] Wodehouse,“Pearls Mean Tears”, inThe Inimitable Jeeves,Harmondsworth, Middlesex[London]:Penguin Books,published1979,→ISBN,page40:
- Thanks to Jeeves I was not going to be called on tocoughup several thousand quid.
- 1929March–August,P[elham] G[renville] Wodehouse,“A Job for Percy Pilbeam”, inSummer Lightning,1st UK edition, London:Herbert Jenkins[…],published19 July 1929,→OCLC,section II,page148:
- "Parsloe, will you or will you notcoughup that pig? "/" I have not got your pig. "
- Sometimes followed byup:toforce(something) out of thelungsorthroatbypushingairfrom the lungs through theglottis(causingashort,explosivesound), and out through themouth.
- (intransitive)
- To push air from the lungs through the glottis (causing a short, explosive sound) and out through the mouth, usually toexpelsomethingblockingorirritatingtheairway.
- I breathed in a lungful of smoke by mistake, and started tocough.
- 1577,Martial,“Epigrammes out of Martial.[To Parthenope.]”,in Timothe Kendall, transl.,Flowers of Epigrammes[…],[Manchester]:[…][Charles Simms]for the Spenser Society, published1874,→OCLC,pages56–57:
- Yet notwithſtandyng all this geare, / thoucougheſtſtill, perdy / Ye are a craftie knaue, youcough/ to fare deliciouſly.
- c.1603–1604(date written),William Shakespeare,The Tragœdy of Othello, the Moore of Venice.[…](First Quarto), London:[…]N[icholas]O[kes]forThomas Walkley,[…],published1622,→OCLC,[Act IV, scene ii],page70:
- Leave procreants alone, and ſhut the dore, /Coffe,or cry hem, if any body come,[…]
- 1828May 15, [Walter Scott], chapter X, inChronicles of the Canongate. Second Series.[…](The Fair Maid of Perth), volume III, Edinburgh:[…][Ballantyne and Co.] forCadell and Co.;London:Simpkin and Marshall,→OCLC,page259:
- "Did your lordship's servant see Simon Glover and his daughter?" said Henry, struggling for breath, andcoughing,to conceal from the Provost the excess of his agitation.
- 1835January 23 (date written), Frederic James Post, “A Discourse Touching Rides and Riding”, inExtracts from the Diary and Other Manuscripts of the Late Frederic James Post, of Islington.[…],London:[…][James Moyes]for private circulation, published1838,→OCLC,pages331–332:
- But often, when thy face [i.e.,that of a horse] is turnedfromthe stable, thou hast an unaccountable desire to place it in the position occupied by thy tail: thou stoppest,coughest,shyest, and erst, with swift detorsion, turnest round, then, with sidelong glance of my magic caduceus, ominously wagging between the horizon and thy ample sides, I incite thee on, but rarely does thy pace more than trot,fromhome.
- [[1840],A[ngelo]Renzi, “Verbi. Verbes. Verbs.”, inLe polyglotte improvisé, ou l’art d’écrire les langues sans les appendre.[…][The Improvised Polyglot, or The Art of Writing Languages without Learning Them.[…]], Paris: Chez l‘auteur,[…];Chez Baudry,[…],et Chez les Principaux Libraries,→OCLC,page498:
- Tossivi / Tu tossais / Thoucoughedst]
- 1869May, Anthony Trollope, “Trevelyan Discourses on Life”, inHe Knew He Was Right,volume II, London: Strahan and Company,[…],→OCLC,page336:
- After this he fell a-coughingviolently, and Stanbury thought it better to leave him.
- 1918,W[illiam] B[abington] Maxwell,chapter XXXI, inThe Mirror and the Lamp,Indianapolis, Ind.:The Bobbs-Merrill Company,→OCLC,page246:
- "But it is unfortunate—you find me at the moment—" and he stopped short andcoughed.
- 1960,P[elham] G[renville] Wodehouse,chapter XI, inJeeves in the Offing,London:Herbert Jenkins,→OCLC:
- I drew a deep breath, and a moment later wished I hadn't, because I drew it while drinking the remains of my gin and tonic. “Does Kipper know of this? “I said, when I had finishedcoughing.
- Tomakeanoiselike acough.
- The enginecoughedand sputtered.
- 1884December 10,Mark Twain[pseudonym; Samuel Langhorne Clemens], chapter XIX, inThe Adventures of Huckleberry Finn: (Tom Sawyer’s Comrade)[…],London:Chatto & Windus,[…],→OCLC,pages169–170:
- Wake up, by-and-by, and look to see what done it, and maybe see a steamboat,coughingalong up stream, so far off towards the other side you couldn't tell nothing about her only whether she was stern-wheel or side-wheel; then for about an hour there wouldn't be nothing to hear nor nothing to see—just solid lonesomeness.
- (originallyUS,slang)To surrender information; to confess, tospill the beans.
- To push air from the lungs through the glottis (causing a short, explosive sound) and out through the mouth, usually toexpelsomethingblockingorirritatingtheairway.
Conjugation
[edit]Conjugation ofcough
| infinitive | (to)cough | ||
|---|---|---|---|
| present tense | past tense | ||
| 1st-personsingular | cough | coughed | |
| 2nd-personsingular | cough,coughest† | coughed,coughedst† | |
| 3rd-personsingular | coughs,cougheth† | coughed | |
| plural | cough | ||
| subjunctive | cough | coughed | |
| imperative | cough | — | |
| participles | coughing | coughed | |
Derived terms
[edit]Translations
[edit]to force (something) out of the lungs or throat by pushing air from the lungs through the glottis (causing a short, explosive sound), and out through the mouth
to cause (oneself or something) to be in a certain condition in the manner specified in sense 1.1
to express (words, etc.) in the manner specified in sense 1.1
(transitive) to surrender (information); (intransitive) to surrender information—seeconfess
to pay up (money)—seepay up
to push air from the lungs through the glottis (causing a short, explosive sound) and out through the mouth
|
to make a noise like a cough
|
Etymology 2
[edit]Thenounis derived fromMiddle Englishcough(“a cough; illness causing coughing”)[and other forms],[2]fromcoughen(verb):seeetymology 1.[3]
Theinterjectionis probably derived from the noun.
Noun
[edit]cough(pluralcoughs)
| Example | |||
|---|---|---|---|
A series of three coughs(nounsense 1). |
- Asudden,ofteninvoluntaryexpulsionofairfrom thelungsthrough theglottis(causingashort,explosivesound), and out through themouth.
- Behind me, I heard a distinct, drycough.
- 1640,John Parkinson,“Cyperus dulcis rotundus esculentus, Trasi dulce vocatus.The Most Delicate Sweet Cyperus, or Rush Nut.”, inTheatrum Botanicum: The Theater of Plants. Or, An Herball of a Large Extent:[…],London:[…]Tho[mas]Cotes,→OCLC,page148:
- [I]t conduceth helpe to the crudities, humidities, and vvindineſſe of the ſtomacke and belly, and to helpe the ſhortneſſe of breath andcoughes:[…]
- 1709,Alexander Pope, “January and May; or, The Merchant’s Tale,fromChaucer”,inThe Works of Mr. Alexander Pope,volume I, London:[…]W[illiam]Bowyer,forBernard Lintot,[…],published1717,→OCLC,page223:
- The lumpiſh husband ſnoar'd avvay the night, / Tillcoughsavvak'd him near the morning light.
- 1828May 15, [Walter Scott], chapter I, inChronicles of the Canongate. Second Series.[…](The Fair Maid of Perth), volume III, Edinburgh:[…][Ballantyne and Co.] forCadell and Co.;London:Simpkin and Marshall,→OCLC,page12:
- Dwining ventured to give a lowcoughonce or twice, by way of signal;[…]
- 1918,W[illiam] B[abington] Maxwell,chapter V, inThe Mirror and the Lamp,Indianapolis, Ind.:The Bobbs-Merrill Company,→OCLC,page26:
- One saint's day in mid-term a certain newly appointed suffragan-bishop came to the school chapel, and there preached on “The Inner Life.” He at once secured attention by his informal method, and when presently the coughing of Jarvis and another boy interrupted the sermon, he altogether captivated his audience with a remark aboutcoughlozenges being cheap and easily procurable.
- 1923May 17,P[elham] G[renville] Wodehouse,“The Great Sermon Handicap”, inThe Inimitable Jeeves,Harmondsworth, Middlesex[London]:Penguin Books,published1979,→ISBN,page139:
- Jeeves coughed one soft, low, gentlecoughlike a sheep with a blade of grass stuck in its throat, and then stood gazing serenely at the landscape.
- Aboutofrepeatedcoughing(verbsense 2.1);also, amedicalconditionthat causes one to cough.
- (medical condition):Synonym:tussis
- Sorry, I can’t come to work today—I’ve got a nastycough.
- c.1596–1599(date written),William Shakespeare,The Second Part of Henrie the Fourth,[…],quarto edition, London:[…]V[alentine]S[immes]forAndrew Wise,andWilliam Aspley,published1600,→OCLC,[Act III, scene ii]:
- [John]Fal[staff].VVhat diſeaſe haſt thou? / [Peter]Bul[lcaff]. A horſon cold ſir, acoughſir, vvhich I cought vvith ringing in the Kings affaires vpon his coronation day ſir.
- 1851June –1852April,Harriet Beecher Stowe,“Foreshadowings”, inUncle Tom’s Cabin; or, Life among the Lowly,volume II, Boston, Mass.:John P[unchard] Jewett & Company;Cleveland, Oh.: Jewett, Proctor & Worthington, published20 March 1852,→OCLC,page81:
- Cough!you don't need to tellmeabout acough.I've always been subject to acough,all my days.[…]O! Eva'scoughis not anything.
- (figurative)Anoiseorsoundlike a cough(sense 1).
Hyponyms
[edit]- anticough
- barking cough
- bitonal cough
- blood cough
- chesty cough
- chin cough
- choking cough
- churchyard cough
- congested cough
- coughless
- coughwort
- croupy cough
- dry cough
- effective cough
- habit cough
- hacking cough
- hooping cough,whooping cough
- kennel cough
- Khumbu cough
- lingering cough
- loose cough
- miner's cough
- nasty cough
- nervous cough
- non-productive cough
- obstinate cough
- paroxysmal cough
- persistent cough
- productive cough
- retching cough
- single cough
- smoker's cough
- snough
- spasmodic cough
- spicy cough
- staccato cough
- tickling cough
- tickly cough
- tooth cough
- tracheal cough
- trouser cough
- vampire cough
- wet cough
Derived terms
[edit]- cough and a spit
- cough attack
- cough button
- cough candy
- cough capsule
- cough drop
- cough drug
- cough expectorant
- cough fracture
- cough impulse
- cough linctus
- cough lolly
- cough lozenge
- cough medicine
- cough mixture
- cough muscle
- cough pill
- cough preparation
- cough reflex
- cough reliever
- cough remedy
- cough suppressant
- cough sweet
- cough syncope
- cough syrup
- cough tablet
- cough tea
- cough test
- coughy
- hiccough
- soften someone's cough
- upper airway cough syndrome
Translations
[edit]sudden, often involuntary expulsion of air from the lungs through the glottis, and out through the mouth
|
bout of repeated coughing; medical condition that causes one to cough
|
- The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables. See instructions atWiktionary:Entry layout § Translations.
Translations to be checked
Interjection
[edit]cough
- Usedtorepresentthesoundof a cough(noun sense 1),especially whenfocusingattentionon afollowingutterance,often anattributionofblameor aeuphemism:ahem.
- He was—cough—indisposed.
Translations
[edit]used to represent the sound of a cough
References
[edit]- ^“cough,v.1”,inOED Online
,Oxford, Oxfordshire:Oxford University Press,July 2023;“cough,v.”,inLexico,Dictionary.com;Oxford University Press,2019–2022.
- ^“cough,n.”,inMED Online,Ann Arbor, Mich.:University of Michigan,2007.
- ^Compare“cough,n.”,inOED Online,Oxford, Oxfordshire:Oxford University Press,July 2023;“cough,n.”,inLexico,Dictionary.com;Oxford University Press,2019–2022.
Further reading
[edit]
Anagrams
[edit]Middle English
[edit]Alternative forms
[edit]Etymology
[edit]Fromcoughen.
Pronunciation
[edit]Noun
[edit]cough(uncountable)
Descendants
[edit]References
[edit]- “cough,n.”,inMED Online,Ann Arbor, Mich.:University of Michigan,2007.
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