Merriam-Webster Logo
SINCE 1828
Menu
dictionary thesaurus

cough up

verb
coughed up; coughing up; coughs up

Definition of cough 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 More Example Sentences Learn More about cough up

Keep scrolling for more

Examples of cough up in a Sentence

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

First Known Use of cough up

1890, in the meaning defined at sense 1

Keep scrolling for more

Learn More about cough up

Statistics for cough up

Look-up Popularity

Time Traveler for cough up

The first known use of cough up was in 1890

See more words from the same year

More from Merriam-Webster on cough up

Rhyming Dictionary: Words that rhyme with cough up

Thesaurus: All synonyms and antonyms for cough up

Comments on cough up

What made you want to look up cough up? Please tell us where you read or heard it (including the quote, if possible).

Show Comments  Hide Comments 

WORD OF THE DAY

assiduous

Listen to the pronounciation of assiduous

showing great care, attention, and effort

Get Word of the Day daily email!

Test Your Vocabulary

Finance Words Quiz

  • a-piggy-bank
  • The etymology of mortgage is related most closely to which two words?
Spell It

Can you spell these 10 commonly misspelled words?

TAKE THE QUIZ
Syn City

Test Your Knowledge - and learn some interesting things along the way.

TAKE THE QUIZ
Love words? Need even more definitions?

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

Words at Play
Ask the Editors
Word Games