hiccup

or hic-cough

[ hik-uhp, -uh p ]

/ ˈhɪk ʌp, -əp /

SEE MORE SYNONYMS FOR hiccup ON THESAURUS.COM

noun

a quick, involuntary inhalation that follows a spasm of the diaphragm and is suddenly checked by closure of the glottis, producing a short, relatively sharp sound.

Usually hiccups. the condition of having such spasms: She got the hiccups just as she began to speak.

Informal. a minor difficulty, interruption, setback, etc.: a hiccup in the stock market.

verb (used without object), hic·cuped or hic·cupped, hic·cup·ing or hic·cup·ping.

to make the sound of a hiccup: The motor hiccuped as it started.

to have the hiccups.

Informal. to experience a temporary decline, setback, interruption, etc.: There was general alarm when the economy hiccuped.

RELATED WORDS

singultus, hiccough

Nearby words

Origin of hiccup

1570–80; alteration of hocket, hickock, equivalent to hic + -ock; akin to Low German hick hiccup; see hocket

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2019

Examples from the Web for hiccups

Actually, Damascus has been a prominent third party in more recent Londongrad hiccups in the media.
Britain’s KGB Sugar Daddy|Michael Weiss|March 7, 2014|DAILY BEAST
And luckily for Jackson, this upset was the last in a very long line of hiccups that could have spoiled the film.
The Curse of ‘The Hobbit’: Dying Animal, Fires, Actors Quitting, and More Movie Upsets|Anna Klassen|December 12, 2012|DAILY BEAST
“I get hiccups all the time these days,” she says in one 2006 post, written while pregnant with her husband half a world away.
Robert Bales, the Army Staff Sgt. Accused of Killing 16 Afghans|Matthew DeLuca|March 18, 2012|DAILY BEAST
I staggered out-of-doors again, and fell into the car, whose ever-running machinery masked my yelps and hiccups.
A Diversity of Creatures|Rudyard Kipling

She tenderly stroked his hair until the hiccups subsided, then clawed at his belly again, sending him rolling through the mud.
Someone Comes to Town, Someone Leaves Town|Cory Doctorow
And Sallust sobbed loudly—the fit was stopped by a counteraction of hiccups.
The Last Days of Pompeii|Edward George Bulwer-Lytton
I paused (as well as my excitement would allow me, for it had brought on the hiccups), and she replied.
Sporting Society, Vol. II (of 2)|Various
The breath retained doth heat the interior parts of the body, and the hiccups proceeds from cold.
The Works of Aristotle the Famous Philosopher|Anonymous

British Dictionary definitions for hiccups

hiccup

hiccough

/ (ˈhɪkʌp) /

noun

a spasm of the diaphragm producing a sudden breathing in followed by a closing of the glottis, resulting in a sharp soundTechnical name: singultus

the state or condition of having such spasms

informal a minor difficulty or problem

verb -cups, -cuping, -cuped, -cups, -cupping, -cupped, -coughs, -coughing or -coughed

(intr) to make a hiccup or hiccups

(tr) to utter with a hiccup or hiccups

Word Origin for hiccup

C16: of imitative origin

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

Word Origin and History for hiccups (1 of 3)

hiccups

a bout of hiccupping, by 1723; see hiccup (n.). This often also was called hiccup or the hiccup.

Word Origin and History for hiccups (1 of 3)

hiccup

1580s; see hiccup (n.).

Word Origin and History for hiccups (2 of 3)

hiccup

1570s, hickop, earlier hicket, hyckock, "a word meant to imitate the sound produced by the convulsion of the diaphragm" [Abram Smythe Farmer, "Folk-Etymology," London, 1882]. Cf. French hoquet, Danish hikke, etc. Modern spelling first recorded 1788; An Old English word for it was ælfsogoða, so called because hiccups were thought to be caused by elves.

Medicine definitions for hiccups

hiccup

n.

A spasm of the diaphragm causing sudden inhalation interrupted by spasmodic closure of the glottis, producing a characteristic noise.

Related formshic′cup null v.