cough up

Etymology

Definitions

1. 1

   To expel from the lungs, throat, stomach, etc. by coughing.

   • He was coughing up blood.
   • He was coughing up a lung.
2. 2

   To reluctantly or unwillingly give.

   • Do you think he'll be able to cough up the three grand by Tuesday?
   • Thanks to Jeeves I was not going to be called on to cough up several thousand quid.
   • "[…] Usually businessmen. Married, middle-aged guys who'll cough up fifty bucks to smoke my pole."
3. 3

   To lose a competition by one's own mistakes, usually near the end of the contest.

   • That team had the game won, but they coughed it up in the end.
4. ›+ 1 more definitionshow fewer

   1. 4

      To spill, to fumble.

      • England had never before come back to win from a margin of more than 12 points, and the errors continued to come thick and fast as Tom Croft became the latest to cough up the ball.

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