cough up

British  

verb

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

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

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cough up Idioms  

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

2. Confess or divulge, as in Pretty soon she'd cough up the whole story about last night . This idiom transfers the act of vomiting to telling the entire truth. [ Slang ; late 1800s]

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Example Sentences

To secure membership, nations are expected to cough up $1 billion in dues.

From Salon

With regard to a Hemingway purloining on “Love and Theft”: “Dylan implants only part of the original sentence, while presumably expecting us to cough up the whole.”

From The Wall Street Journal

Celtic interim boss Martin O'Neill was delighted by the "spirit" and "resilience" his side showed in Bologna, but was left to rue what might have been after they coughed up a two-goal lead.

From BBC

Gauff, whose best performance in Melbourne is a semi-final in 2024, showed glimpses of frustration as she coughed up six double faults in the first set and made 19 unforced errors.

From Barron's

The scratching returned to her throat, and despite her best efforts to keep them down, she coughed up more feathers, fistfuls of them.

From Literature

Related Words

• allocate
• concentrate
• consume
• contribute
• donate
• drop
• employ
• expend
• give
• invest
• put in
• settle
• use
• waste