coughs

1. 1
   verb

   Third-person singular simple present of cough.

   He coughs each time he steps into the freezing air outside.

   The engine sputters and coughs before it finally turns over.

   Note

   The -s marks a single he, she or it in the present: she coughs and the engine coughs, but I, you and they cough. The same spelling is also the plural noun, so position decides. After a subject it is the verb (he coughs), and after a determiner it is the noun (his coughs). Followed by up it turns figurative: coughs up can mean confesses, and in slang it means pays up.

   Every month he grumbles, then coughs up the rent.

   If she coughs up the names, the charges may be dropped.

2. 2
   noun

   Plural of cough.

   A series of dry coughs interrupted the speaker midway through the lecture.

   The doctor listened to the deep coughs rattling in his chest.

   Note

   The plural covers every countable use of the noun, not just the single explosive burst. It can count bouts of coughing or cases of the condition behind them, the cough-like calls of a bird or other animal, and figurative noises that only sound like coughing. The same spelling also serves as the present-tense verb, so position tells them apart. After words like several, these or two, it is the noun.

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