cough up


verb(adverb)
  1. informal to surrender (money, information, etc), esp reluctantly

  2. (tr) to bring into the mouth or eject (phlegm, food, etc) by coughing

Words Nearby cough up

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

How to use cough up in a sentence

  • Th' hide iv th' pauperized kine iv Europe will have to cough up at th' custom house befure they can be convarted into brogans.

    Mr. Dooley Says | Finley Dunne
  • If you don't want me to hand you trouble by the bushel, you'd better cough up that little dwarf.

    The Secret of the Storm Country | Grace Miller White
  • cough up all your spare coin, Joe, and see these little beggars dive for it.

  • In this business ye got to cough up yer whole soul jus' to get a lump (hand-out).

  • I see through their game—to steal the poor lad from his mother's arms, an' make the old man cough up the dough.

    The Long Patrol | H. A. Cody

Other Idioms and Phrases with cough up

cough up

Hand over or relinquish, especially money; pay up. For example, It's time the delinquent members coughed up their dues. [Slang; late 1800s]

The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary Copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.