cough

Etymology

From Middle English coughen, coghen, from Old English *cohhian (compare Old English cohhetan (“to riot, bluster”)), from Proto-West Germanic *kuh- (“to cough”), ultimately of onomatopoeic origin. Cognate with West Frisian kiche (“to cough”), kochelje (“to cough persistently”), Dutch kuchen (“to cough”), German Low German kuchen (“to cough”), German keuchen (“to pant, gasp”), Spanish cof (“onomatopoeia of the coughing sound”).

verb

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.
   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 finished coughing. 1960, P. G. Wodehouse, Jeeves in the Offing, chapter XI
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.

noun

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.