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

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

The mold could cause infections that may lead to coughing up blood in people with allergic reactions or certain lung diseases, as well as fever and other symptoms, according to the Mayo Clinic. —Julia Gomez, USA Today, 15 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