cough up
Britishverb
-
informal to surrender (money, information, etc), esp reluctantly
-
(tr) to bring into the mouth or eject (phlegm, food, etc) by coughing
-
Hand over or relinquish, especially money; pay up. For example, It's time the delinquent members coughed up their dues . [ Slang ; late 1800s]
-
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]
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
The memo encouraged donors to cough up another $17 million over the next two weeks.
From Slate ● Oct. 15, 2026
She stated to cough up blood and then, around the time of her death, an ultrasound revealed that she had a heart tumour, which affects just 0.19% of dogs.
From BBC ● Oct. 11, 2026
Brussels says its rules are working since they have already forced AI providers to cough up information to regulators, though Regnier declined to give details.
From Barron's ● Oct. 6, 2026
Every streaming service craves target-audiences die-hard enough to cough up $10.99 on a monthly basis.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jun. 5, 2026
All I have to do is cough up everything I can remember about the British War Effort.
From "Code Name Verity" by Elizabeth Wein
Random Word
Spin the wheel and learn a new word!
Get a wordDefinitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
