coughing up
Forcefully expelling phlegm
Coughing up combines the physical act of expelling something from the throat with figurative reluctance.
Literally, you cough up phlegm or blood.
Figuratively, to cough up is to produce something unwillingly—usually money or information: He finally coughed up the fifty bucks he owed me, The suspect coughed up the location of the hideout.
- payingTransferring money owed
- forking overSurrendering money owed
- shelling outSpending money, often reluctantly
- pony upPay reluctantly
- sputumExpelled lung mucus
spit · phlegm · disgorging · expectorate · divulging · coming clean · mucus · spitting up · ante up · hairball · confessing · throat · eject · surrendering · expel · gagging · flu · spluttering
- money idiomsarm and a leg, break the bank, penny pincher, cheapskate, tightwad
coughing upswallowing
Ingesting via throat muscles
ingesting · inhaling · taking in · breathing in · aspirating
coughing upwithholding
Keeping from another
holding back · stiffing · keeping · hoarding · defaulting
coughing upconcealing
Keeping something secret
withholding · suppressing · hiding · holding back · covering up
cough, hacking, coughing, coughs, coughed, cough up, hawking, bronchitis, cougher