cough up

verb

coughed up; coughing up; coughs up

transitive verb

1

: hand over, deliver

cough up the money

2

: to lose possession of (a ball or puck) during a game

the quarterback coughed up the ball

Synonyms of cough up

• relinquish
• render
• surrender
• deliver

Examples of cough up in a Sentence

finally got my brother to cough up the dough he owed me

Recent Examples on the Web

In other words, even if every player is locked out when the season gets underway on March 24, Fox will still have to cough up $729 million for the privilege of not airing any live games. — Anthony Crupi, Sportico.com, 6 Nov. 2026

But there was an unhappy reminder of the 2012 Chiefs team on Sunday as Kansas City coughed up a fourth-quarter lead and lost to the Broncos. — Pete Grathoff, Kansas City Star, 2 Nov. 2026

Florida fell behind 24-0 after committing 60 yards of penalties, Philo suffered two interceptions and Jones coughed up a fumble that Georgia linebacker Chris Cole returned 66 yards for a touchdown 29 seconds before halftime. — Edgar Thompson, The Orlando Sentinel, 31 Oct. 2026

After an X-ray showed a broken rib, Watson — who had been coughing up blood — underwent a CT scan and had blood tests. — Skyler Caruso, PEOPLE, 30 Oct. 2026

Word History

First Known Use

1890, in the meaning defined at sense 1

Rhymes for cough up

• backup
• blowup
• breakup
• buildup
• checkup
• cleanup
• holdup
• hookup
• lineup
• lockup
• makeup
• markup