as in relinquishing
to give (something) over to the control or possession of another usually under duress
finally got my brother to cough up the dough he owed me
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Recent Examples of coughing up
Newborns and frail older people often have a hard time coughing up the mucus, Hopkins says.
—
Liz Szabo, Scientific American, 23 Sep. 2025
Chase reeled in five catches for 50 yards, coughing up a fumble that was one of Cincinnati's five total turnovers.
—Matt Audilet, MSNBC Newsweek, 22 Sep. 2025
The Patriots lost four fumbles, with Stevenson coughing up two of those, in Sunday’s 21-14 loss to the Dolphins.
—Doug Kyed, Boston Herald, 22 Sep. 2025
Per The New York Times, he was diagnosed with the illness after coughing up blood onto his piano.
—Marina Watts, PEOPLE, 16 Sep. 2025
Not everyone infected with TB gets symptoms, but those with active cases can suffer from a persistent cough, including coughing up blood or sputum, chest pain, fever, and fatigue.
—Brie Stimson, FOXNews.com, 6 Sep. 2025
According to Gerald, Bob went to the hospital after coughing up blood and was scheduled for tests.
—EW.com, 19 Aug. 2025
Chest pains, coughing that lasts for three weeks or more, and coughing up blood, are all symptoms of TB infection.
—Darrell Smith, Sacbee.com, 7 Aug. 2025
Liz Szabo, Scientific American, 23 Sep. 2025
Chase reeled in five catches for 50 yards, coughing up a fumble that was one of Cincinnati's five total turnovers.
—Matt Audilet, MSNBC Newsweek, 22 Sep. 2025
The Patriots lost four fumbles, with Stevenson coughing up two of those, in Sunday’s 21-14 loss to the Dolphins.
—Doug Kyed, Boston Herald, 22 Sep. 2025
Per The New York Times, he was diagnosed with the illness after coughing up blood onto his piano.
—Marina Watts, PEOPLE, 16 Sep. 2025
Not everyone infected with TB gets symptoms, but those with active cases can suffer from a persistent cough, including coughing up blood or sputum, chest pain, fever, and fatigue.
—Brie Stimson, FOXNews.com, 6 Sep. 2025
According to Gerald, Bob went to the hospital after coughing up blood and was scheduled for tests.
—EW.com, 19 Aug. 2025
Chest pains, coughing that lasts for three weeks or more, and coughing up blood, are all symptoms of TB infection.
—Darrell Smith, Sacbee.com, 7 Aug. 2025
Recent Examples of Synonyms for coughing up
Verb
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At first glance, Beijing’s willingness to play ball on TikTok looks like a sharp reversal from its years of resistance to relinquishing control over the viral video app – the first global social media hit to come out of China.—
Simone McCarthy,
CNN Money,
20 Sep. 2025
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Few believe Kim would countenance relinquishing his nuclear deterrence, given the fates of Libyan leader Colonel Muammar Gaddafi and Iraq’s Saddam Hussein, both toppled after abandoning their weapons programs.—
Charlie Campbell,
Time,
17 Sep. 2025
Verb
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Apple's iPhone 17 Pro shown on September 9, 2025 at Apple Park in California has enhanced 3D-rendering capabilities powered by Apple's custom chip, A19 Pro, with neural accelerators added to the 6 GPU cores.—
Katie Tarasov,
CNBC,
21 Sep. 2025
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Many IoT devices lack robust security requirements, rendering them susceptible to more significant attacks.—
Chuck Brooks,
Forbes.com,
19 Sep. 2025
Verb
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Jackson Wolf won his last start of the season, turning in five solid innings in Triple-A El Paso’s 5-3 win at Sugar Land on Saturday.—
Jeff Sanders,
San Diego Union-Tribune,
21 Sep. 2025
-
Just weeks after turning in an early rough draft, that blood clot near my heart stopped me cold in my tracks.—
Literary Hub,
Literary Hub,
17 Sep. 2025
Verb
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Their offense has struggled to generate big plays consistently, and their defense, especially in pass coverage, has been giving up a lot of yardage.—
Ben Verbrugge,
MSNBC Newsweek,
21 Sep. 2025
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The 21-year-old Rodriguez debuted in late May and threw 1⅔ scoreless innings in his lone appearance, striking out a batter, walking one and hitting another without giving up a run.—
Jeff Sanders,
San Diego Union-Tribune,
13 Sep. 2025
Verb
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Many progressives at the time saw that as surrendering leverage for nothing concrete.—
Nik Popli,
Time,
26 Sep. 2025
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Dancing, to me, is surrendering.—
Miguel Otárola,
Denver Post,
22 Sep. 2025
Verb
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La Gritona is proudly additive-free and always prioritizes sustainability, turning over its agave remnants to local farmers for cattle feed.—
Carley Rojas Ávila,
Forbes.com,
19 Sep. 2025
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The anecdote came up as part of a larger conversation Barrymore was having with her audience that day about turning over a new page after turning 50 earlier this year.—
Emlyn Travis,
Entertainment Weekly,
8 Sep. 2025
Verb
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Barnes also starred serving by delivering six aces, all of which came in the final set and buried the Bishops in an 18-5 hole.—
Greg Dudek,
Boston Herald,
23 Sep. 2025
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The deal, which will see Nvidia start delivering chips as soon as late 2026, will involve two separate but intertwined transactions, according to a person close to OpenAI.—
CNN Money,
CNN Money,
22 Sep. 2025
Verb
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The newest models of the Vampire drone, which is produced by a Ukrainian company called Skyfall, allows pilots to switch on AI mode midflight, effectively handing over the controls to an algorithm.—
Simon Shuster,
Time,
24 Sep. 2025
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Yeat joins him in another room, handing over what appears to be a file or document.—
Jeff Ihaza,
Rolling Stone,
23 Sep. 2025
Cite this Entry
“Coughing up.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/coughing%20up. Accessed 29 Sep. 2025.
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