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# cough

«cough» in Mova's school dictionary: **to push air out of your lungs suddenly with a loud noise…** — its meaning for a pupil, its sense in the lessons and examples, with 5 sentences of Mova's corpora that use it.

### part of speech

verb (cough, coughs, coughed, coughing); noun (a cough, coughs)

### meaning for a pupil

1) To cough is to push air out of your lungs suddenly with a loud noise, often because something is in your throat or you are ill. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/C/cough/#m1)

2) A cough is this action or sound. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/C/cough/#m2)

3) A cough is an illness that makes you cough a lot. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/C/cough/#m3)

4) A machine or engine coughs when it makes a rough sound. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/C/cough/#m4)

### sense in the lessons

In health and hygiene lessons, cover coughs and sneezes with a tissue or your elbow, throw the tissue away and wash your hands, so germs do not spread. A cough is the body clearing the airways. A cough that lasts weeks or comes with trouble breathing needs a doctor. Phrases: cough and sneeze, catch it in your elbow, a bad cough, cough medicine, cough up (pay or give, informal), whooping cough.

### examples

- Cover your mouth when you cough. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/C/cough/#x1)
- I've had a cough all week. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/C/cough/#x2)
- The smoke made us cough. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/C/cough/#x3)
- The doctor gave me cough medicine. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/C/cough/#x4)
- He coughed politely to get our attention. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/C/cough/#x5)
- The old car coughed and stopped. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/C/cough/#x6)
- Come on, cough up the money you owe! [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/C/cough/#x7)
- It was NOVEMBER, who coughed violently as he got out. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/C/cough/#x8)

### note

Pronounced "koff" — the "-ough" spelling is tricky (compare tough, through, though, dough). If someone is choking and cannot cough or breathe, it is an emergency; get an adult immediately.

### In the corpora

- [Think of an owl pellet on a classroom table: a ball of fur and tiny bones the owl coughed up, not poo.](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/biology/302-how-owls-work-silent-wings-turning-heads-pellets-and-owl-myths/4/)
- [A cough that lasts for weeks or makes breathing hard needs a doctor, because it can be asthma or an infection.](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/everyday/79-germs-sneezes-and-dressing-for-the-weather/8/)
- [A child who is choking and cannot cough or cry needs a grown-up and the emergency number at once.](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/everyday/112-sharp-things-and-little-ones/12/)
- [If someone is choking and cannot talk or cough, get an adult at once, who can give firm back blows.](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/everyday/127-excuse-me-and-table-manners/21/)
- [Honey can soothe a sore throat and calm a cough a little, but it is never given to babies under 12 months.](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/medicine/7-colds-and-flu/13/)

### Trees and pragmatics

[Every meaning and example of «cough» parsed by Mova](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/C/cough/), each sentence with its dependency tree and frames.