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

• 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

Again, special teams blunders set the defense up in poor position, but the defense ultimately coughed up big gains on the ground. —Mike Kaye september 28, Charlotte Observer, 28 Sep. 2025

After blowing a golden opportunity against the Buffalo Bills in Week 1, the Ravens blew out the Cleveland Browns but then coughed up another statement-win opportunity against the Detroit Lions last week. —Mike Jones, New York Times, 28 Sep. 2025

But just 44 seconds later, the B’s coughed up the lead after Khusnutdinov coughed up the puck at the defensive blue line and Nathan Aspinall slipped a shot through Joonas Korpisalo. —Steve Conroy, Boston Herald, 24 Sep. 2025

Newborns and frail older people often have a hard time coughing up the mucus, Hopkins says. —Liz Szabo, Scientific American, 23 Sep. 2025

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