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
Typically, Gunnar had to keep his time on the ice short due to his difficulty breathing, often coughing up mucus when returning from his shift.
—
Ian Thomas, CNBC, 4 Mar. 2026
On the flipside, Wisconsin escaped the first half without coughing up the ball once and finished the game with three turnovers, which the Terps converted to only three points.
—Edward Lee, Baltimore Sun, 4 Mar. 2026
Paramount’s winning offer was $31 (plus coughing up a bunch of billion-dollar incentives).
—James Hibberd, HollywoodReporter, 27 Feb. 2026
During Wings’ lifetime, Band on the Run was universally regarded as their masterpiece, while Ram was considered on the aesthetic level of Martha coughing up a hairball.
—Rob Sheffield, Rolling Stone, 24 Feb. 2026
That same year, the ultimate outlier came with the Cleveland Browns coughing up a fortune (including three first-rounders among seven picks) for Deshaun Watson’s exit from Houston.
—Cam Inman, Mercury News, 23 Feb. 2026
In his lone start last year with Young out with a high ankle sprain, Dalton was overmatched in a 40-9 loss to the Buffalo Bills, getting sacked seven times and coughing up three turnovers.
—Joseph Person, New York Times, 19 Feb. 2026
The recent hospitalization comes nearly a year after he was hospitalized for coughing up blood and coming down with a fever in February 2025, TMZ previously reported.
—Charna Flam, PEOPLE, 30 Jan. 2026
Previous health concerns In March, Aaron was rushed to the hospital in California after coughing up blood, but a cause of the symptoms was never publicly revealed.
—Irene Wright, USA Today, 27 Jan. 2026
Ian Thomas, CNBC, 4 Mar. 2026
On the flipside, Wisconsin escaped the first half without coughing up the ball once and finished the game with three turnovers, which the Terps converted to only three points.
—Edward Lee, Baltimore Sun, 4 Mar. 2026
Paramount’s winning offer was $31 (plus coughing up a bunch of billion-dollar incentives).
—James Hibberd, HollywoodReporter, 27 Feb. 2026
During Wings’ lifetime, Band on the Run was universally regarded as their masterpiece, while Ram was considered on the aesthetic level of Martha coughing up a hairball.
—Rob Sheffield, Rolling Stone, 24 Feb. 2026
That same year, the ultimate outlier came with the Cleveland Browns coughing up a fortune (including three first-rounders among seven picks) for Deshaun Watson’s exit from Houston.
—Cam Inman, Mercury News, 23 Feb. 2026
In his lone start last year with Young out with a high ankle sprain, Dalton was overmatched in a 40-9 loss to the Buffalo Bills, getting sacked seven times and coughing up three turnovers.
—Joseph Person, New York Times, 19 Feb. 2026
The recent hospitalization comes nearly a year after he was hospitalized for coughing up blood and coming down with a fever in February 2025, TMZ previously reported.
—Charna Flam, PEOPLE, 30 Jan. 2026
Previous health concerns In March, Aaron was rushed to the hospital in California after coughing up blood, but a cause of the symptoms was never publicly revealed.
—Irene Wright, USA Today, 27 Jan. 2026
Recent Examples of Synonyms for coughing up
Verb
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Payton relinquishing the duties deserves praise.—
Troy Renck,
Denver Post,
25 Feb. 2026
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Riley was the head coach and team president for the Heat’s first NBA championship in 2006 before relinquishing those duties to Erik Spoelstra in 2008.—
Anthony Chiang,
Miami Herald,
23 Feb. 2026
Verb
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At around minute 23, emergency responders are seen rendering care and checking Martinez's body for exit wounds.—
Camilo Montoya-Galvez,
CBS News,
7 Mar. 2026
-
The programmatic shuffle is rendering parts of the old Artemis plan obsolete, leaving major ground hardware half-built and an uncertain future for the Gateway moon-orbiting space station under development.—
Josh Dinner,
Space.com,
6 Mar. 2026
Verb
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Stout, bluesy guitar and a pummeling rhythm lead to McBryde turning in a ferocious, fearless vocal, singing about a litany of vices and urges that stay steeped her bloodline.—
Jessica Nicholson,
Billboard,
23 Feb. 2026
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The Marshall Tucker Band rocked The Guild in Menlo Park hard for 90 minutes on Friday night, turning in a 14-song performance that was an absolute testament to both the lasting greatness of this South Carolina troupe and the power of Southern rock.—
Jim Harrington,
Mercury News,
21 Feb. 2026
Verb
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Benjamin Reinhard, 14, won by correctly spelling the word kenosis, which refers to the act of a Christian person voluntarily giving up their personal rights and ambitions and accepting suffering, according to the spelling bee’s definition.—
Jemma Stephenson,
San Diego Union-Tribune,
6 Mar. 2026
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Family members agreed to a conservation easement in 2015, essentially giving up development rights, and have now sold it for preservation under state ownership.—
John Meyer,
Denver Post,
6 Mar. 2026
Verb
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In the aftermath of the shooting, video was posted on social media, and commenters raised concerns about police opening fire on a man who appeared in the video to be surrendering.—
Caleb Lunetta,
San Diego Union-Tribune,
3 Mar. 2026
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Chicagoans like us know something about living alongside violence without surrendering our civic identity.—
Andy Shaw,
Chicago Tribune,
27 Feb. 2026
Verb
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Val Chmerkovskiy reveals diagnosis BPPV causes brief periods of dizziness and is often set off by changes in the head's position, like lying down, turning over or sitting up in bed, according to the Mayo Clinic.—
Melina Khan,
USA Today,
4 Mar. 2026
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The Panthers then went on a 16-7 run to pull ahead by a dozen, before MC stopped turning over the ball and trimmed the deficit at the half to 34-28.—
Justin Barrasso,
Boston Herald,
4 Mar. 2026
Verb
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Since Obama, the first president to use an official account on the social media site then called Twitter, left office in January 2017, handing over online accounts has been part of the transition process between administrations.—
Stephen Fowler,
NPR,
7 Feb. 2026
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Because of this, handing over $35 million (€30 million) to Manchester United for Rashford might be the safest bet after all.—
Tom Sanderson,
Forbes.com,
23 Jan. 2026
Verb
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Nearly a third of teachers hold a second job that is unrelated to education, including driving Ubers, delivering food, and working as bartenders and waiters.—
Matt Egan,
CNN Money,
2 Mar. 2026
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The bomber previously played a key role in delivering strikes on Iran’s nuclear sites last June.—
Sujita Sinha,
Interesting Engineering,
2 Mar. 2026
Cite this Entry
“Coughing up.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/coughing%20up. Accessed 10 Mar. 2026.
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