Definition of Cough

1. Noun. A sudden noisy expulsion of air from the lungs that clears the air passages; a common symptom of upper respiratory infection or bronchitis or pneumonia or tuberculosis.

Exact synonyms: Coughing
Group relationships: Respiratory Disease, Respiratory Disorder, Respiratory Illness
Generic synonyms: Symptom

2. Verb. Exhale abruptly, as when one has a chest cold or congestion. "The smoker coughs all day"
Specialized synonyms: Hack, Whoop, Clear The Throat, Hawk
Generic synonyms: Cough Out, Cough Up, Expectorate, Spit Out, Spit Up
Also: Cough Out, Cough Up, Cough Up
Derivative terms: Coughing

Definition of Cough

1. v. i. To expel air, or obstructing or irritating matter, from the lungs or air passages, in a noisy and violent manner.

2. v. t. To expel from the lungs or air passages by coughing; -- followed by up; as, to cough up phlegm.

3. n. A sudden, noisy, and violent expulsion of air from the chest, caused by irritation in the air passages, or by the reflex action of nervous or gastric disorder, etc.

Definition of Cough

1. Verb. To push air from the lungs in a quick, noisy explosion. ¹

2. Verb. To make a noise like a cough ¹

3. Noun. A sudden, usually noisy expulsion of air from the lungs, often involuntary. ¹

4. Noun. A condition that causes one to cough; a tendency to cough. ¹

¹ Source: wiktionary.com

Definition of Cough

1. to expel air from the lungs noisily [v -ED, -ING, -S]

Medical Definition of Cough

1. A rapid expulsion of air from the lungs typically in order to clear the lung airways of fluids, mucus, or material. (12 Dec 1998)

Lexicographical Neighbors of Cough

couching
couching needle
couchings
couchless
couchlike
couchside
coude
coude system
coude telescope
coudee
coudees
cougarlike
cougars
cough (current term)
cough drop
cough fracture
cough mixture
cough mixtures
cough out
cough reflex
cough suppressant
cough syrup
cough syrups
cough up
coughdrop
coughdrops

Literary usage of Cough

Below you will find example usage of this term as found in modern and/or classical literature:

1. The American Journal of the Medical Sciences by Southern Society for Clinical Investigation (U.S.) (1889)
"The cough consisted of a series of short, resonant aspirations resembling the tones of a trumpet, monotonous in timbre, and with very regular intermittences ..."

2. Proceedings by Philadelphia County Medical Society (1888)
"cough, hectic, for one year; effusion filling right cheat; rales in lung at apex. ... Loss of flesh, cough for four months. Consolidation at right apex. ..."

3. Domestic Medicine: Or, a Treatise on the Prevention and Cure of Diseases by by William Buchan (1798)
"A cough is not only a ... This cough is generally removed by a ... The chin-cough is fo well known, ..."

4. The Practice of pediatrics by Charles Gilmore Kerley (1918)
"The cough was due to the adenoid vegetations and not to pertussis. Adherent Pleura.—Adherent pleura, non-tuberculous, as previously mentioned, ..."

5. Monographic Medicine by William Robie Patten Emerson, Guido Guerrini, William Brown, Wendell Christopher Phillips, John Whitridge Williams, John Appleton Swett, Hans Günther, Mario Mariotti, Hugh Grant Rowell (1916)
"Uncomplicated whooping-cough leads to recovery after passing through three stages, ... The average duration of whooping-cough is between 6 and 8 weeks. ..."

6. The Annual Register, Or, A View of the History, Politics, and Literature for by Edmund Burke, Benjamin Franklin Collection (Library of Congress), John Davis Batchelder Collection (Library of Congress) (1823)
"Hooping cough.—Dr. Archer, an American physician, says, relative to the cure of the hooping- cough by vaccination, " I have vaccinated six or eight patients ..."

7. The Practitioner by Gale Group, ProQuest Information and Learning Company (1888)
"He has often noticed a hoarse, deep, and harassing cough in the third stage lose ... The cough of laryngeal phthisis has been successfully treated with it; ..."

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