Merriam-Webster Logo
SINCE 1828
Menu
dictionary thesaurus

cough up

verb

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

reverberate

Listen to the pronounciation of reverberate

to reflect, repel, echo, or resound

Get Word of the Day daily email!

Test Your Vocabulary

Original Meanings Quiz

  • rembrandt-painting-a-young-scholar-and-his-tutor
  • Which of the following is the earliest known sense of the word awe?
Spell It

Can you spell these 10 commonly misspelled words?

TAKE THE QUIZ
Word Winder's CrossWinder

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