cough

/kɑf/

/kɒf/

Other forms: coughed; coughing; coughs

A cough is a reflex in which your throat or lungs are cleared by a sudden, sharp burst of air escaping. A bad cough can make it very hard to sleep at night.

A cough is evidence that someone's sick, and it's a verb as well: "She began to cough and couldn't stop until someone brought her a bottle of water." You can also describe a cough-like sound that an engine makes when it's not working properly as a cough. The Old English source of cough is coughen, from a Germanic root — every version of the word is imitative, the word itself sounding like a cough.

Definitions of cough

1. noun

   a sudden noisy expulsion of air from the lungs that clears the air passages; a common symptom of upper respiratory infection or bronchitis or pneumonia or tuberculosis
   synonyms: coughing

   type of:

   symptom

   (medicine) any sensation or change in bodily function that is experienced by a patient and is associated with a particular disease
2. verb

   exhale abruptly, as when one has a chest cold or congestion
   “The smoker coughs all day”

   types:

   hack, whoop

   cough spasmodically

   clear the throat, hawk

   clear mucus or food from one's throat

   type of:

   cough out, cough up, expectorate, spit out, spit up

   discharge (phlegm or sputum) from the lungs and out of the mouth