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

No, that part was, deGrom coughed up that first-inning grand slam and still came out of this as the winning pitcher. — Jayson Stark, New York Times, 26 June 2026

Michael Mimoun, a thirty-nine-year-old from Brooklyn who works in property management, coughed up five hundred dollars to watch there with a group of family and friends, including two five-year-olds. — Dan Greene, New Yorker, 20 June 2026

The Fever coughed up 17 turnovers. — Alejandro Avila Outkick, FOXNews.com, 19 June 2026

Even with a stellar starting rotation and a lineup of superstar hitters, a World Series can be lost if the Dodgers remain liable to cough up leads in the final innings. — Peter Chawaga, Forbes.com, 19 June 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