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

Examples of cough up in a Sentence

finally got my brother to cough up the dough he owed me
Recent Examples on the Web The fires, which have burned the largest land area ever observed in the country, have forced tens of thousands of people to evacuate and coughed up smog that led to air quality warnings across Canada and the eastern United States. Kyle Rempfer, Washington Post, 20 Sep. 2023 Utah was coming off a crushing, 28-27 loss to Washington State in which the Utes coughed up a 21-0 lead. Ben Bolch, Los Angeles Times, 21 Sep. 2023 So Proche picked a terrible time to cough up the ball on a punt return at the Ravens’ 14-yard line, the type of mishap that will remain lodged in Harbaugh’s craw. Childs Walker, Baltimore Sun, 13 Aug. 2023 Max fans who don’t relish the idea of coughing up $9.99 per month more to access the Warner Bros. Jennifer Maas, Variety, 22 Sep. 2023 The service’s success in just 15 months after launching proved that despite Snapchat’s reputation as an app used mainly by teens, users are willing to cough up money for a premium experience on the platform. Nicole Goodkind, CNN, 20 Oct. 2023 Unless new users in these locations cough up the dollar, they'll be blocked from accessing basic platform features, including posting, replying, or quoting posts. Ashley Belanger, Ars Technica, 18 Oct. 2023 But in the sixth, with his club up, 2-0, the righthander coughed up the lead. Julian McWilliams, BostonGlobe.com, 12 Sep. 2023 What the Polish diplomats wanted to talk about, however, was not the risk of an assault from Belarus or the war in Ukraine, but a less pressing matter: a demand that Germany cough up more than a trillion dollars to cover damage done by the Nazis during World War II. Andrew Higgins, New York Times, 8 Oct. 2023 See More

These examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'cough up.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.

Word History

First Known Use

1890, in the meaning defined at sense 1

Time Traveler
The first known use of cough up was in 1890

Dictionary Entries Near cough up

Cite this Entry

“Cough up.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/cough%20up. Accessed 10 Dec. 2023.

Last Updated: - Updated example sentences
Love words? Need even more definitions?

Subscribe to America's largest dictionary and get thousands more definitions and advanced search—ad free!