hiccup

Pluralhiccups

Formshiccups, hiccuping, hiccuped

1. 1
   nouncountable

   A bout of repeated diaphragm spasms; the state of having hiccups for a stretch of time.

   A stubborn hiccup kept her awake for most of the night.

   His hiccups persisted for three days before the doctor found a cause.

   Note

   Here the word names the whole episode rather than a single spasm. In everyday English it usually appears in the plural with the: have the hiccups, a case of the hiccups. A lone hiccup can still stand for the whole bout. Doctors call the condition singultus, or diaphragmatic myoclonus, which are clinical names for the same run of repeated spasms.

2. 2
   nouncountable

   A sudden involuntary spasm of the diaphragm, or the short sharp sound it produces.

   He stifled a hiccup behind his hand during the meeting.

   Every few seconds another hiccup broke the quiet of the library.

   Note

   The word imitates the sound itself. Earlier English had hicket and hyckock, built from an echoic hic plus the diminutive -ock, so the name means roughly "a little hic." Neighboring languages heard the same noise and named it the same way: Scots hick and hix, Dutch and West Frisian hik, and German hicksen, "to hiccup."

3. 3
   verbintransitive

   To experience hiccups; to make the involuntary sound caused by a spasm of the diaphragm.

   He hiccuped loudly in the middle of the wedding ceremony.

   Children often hiccup after eating too fast.

   Note

   The verb has two accepted spellings for its endings. One uses a single p (hiccuped, hiccuping) and the other doubles it (hiccupped, hiccupping). Both are correct, and both turn up in careful writing. The practical rule is to choose one and keep it consistent throughout a piece.

4. 4
   nouncolloquialcountable

   A minor obstacle or temporary setback that briefly interrupts progress.

   The merger went smoothly except for a minor hiccup over pricing.

   A few hiccups in the supply chain delayed shipping by a week.

   Similarsetback, snag, glitch, hitch

5. 5
   nouncountable

   A sudden spasm or abrupt change in an otherwise steady process.

   A momentary hiccup in the power supply reset all the office clocks.

   Traders noted a brief hiccup in prices before the market steadied.

   Similarblip, glitch, fluctuation, wobble, spasm

6. 6
   verbintransitive

   To produce a short, faltering sound resembling a hiccup.

   The engine hiccuped a couple of times before roaring to life.

   Old speakers sometimes hiccup when the signal drops.

   Similarsputter, cough, stutter, splutter, falter

7. 7
   verbtransitive

   To utter something while hiccupping.

   She hiccuped a few embarrassed words of apology.

   Between giggles, they hiccup half-finished sentences.

   Note

   Here the verb becomes a way of reporting speech. It can stand where said would, after a line of dialogue: "I haven't touched a drop, officer," the suspect hiccupped. Unlike the plain bodily verb, it takes the words spoken as its object. The past and participle forms are written both ways, hiccuped or hiccupped and hiccuping or hiccupping. Pick one spelling and keep it consistent.

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