cough
Use Cough in a sentence
| to run away hurriedly; flee. |
| to spend time idly; loaf. |
Based on the Random House Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2013.
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cough (kɒf) ![[Click for IPA pronunciation guide]](http://static.sfdict.com/dictstatic/g/d/dictionary_questionbutton_default.gif) | |
| —vb | |
| 1. | (intr) to expel air or solid matter from the lungs abruptly and explosively through the partially closed vocal chords |
| 2. | (intr) to make a sound similar to this |
| 3. | (tr) to utter or express with a cough or coughs |
| 4. | slang (intr) to confess to a crime |
| —n | |
| 5. | an act, instance, or sound of coughing |
| 6. | a condition of the lungs or throat that causes frequent coughing |
| [Old English cohhetten; related to Middle Dutch kochen, Middle High German kūchen to wheeze; probably of imitative origin] | |
| 'cougher | |
| —n | |
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cough
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cough (kôf)
v. coughed, cough·ing, coughs
To expel air from the lungs suddenly and noisily, often to keep the respiratory passages free of irritating material. n.
The act of coughing.
An illness marked by frequent coughing.
Copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Company.
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| cough (kôf, kŏf) Pronunciation Key
The act of expelling air from the lungs suddenly and noisily, often to keep the respiratory passages free of irritating material. |
Copyright © 2002. Published by Houghton Mifflin. All rights reserved.
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cough
an expulsive reflex initiated when the respiratory tract is irritated by infection, noxious fumes, dust, or other types of foreign bodies. The reflex results in a sudden expulsion of air from the lungs that carries with it excessive secretions or foreign material from the respiratory tract. Cough is beneficial; pneumonia frequently results when an effective cough reflex is lost as a result of chest injury, disease, or oversedation. Repeated and severe coughing, however, is physically exhausting and interferes with rest. Under these circumstances drugs may be used to suppress the reflex.
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