Green’s Dictionary of Slang

cough v.

(orig. US)

1. (also cough it) to confess, to inform.

[US]A.H. Lewis Sandburrs 81: Not one of ’em coughs on me, an’ me name ain’t never in it.
[US]W.M. Raine Bucky O’Connor (1910) 114: Cough it out, Mike.
[US]P. & T. Casey Gay-cat 62: Thet guy Blondy had coughed on me. He had got me trapped.
[UK]‘P.B. Yuill’ Hazell and the Three-card Trick (1977) 146: ‘What you want from me.’ [...] ‘A confession. How you worked the oracle with Jennifer Carmichael. Just cough the lot, that’s all I want.’.
[UK]J. McClure Spike Island (1981) 96: He’s not going to cough for the first half-hour, so I leave him in the cells for a bit.
[UK]J. Morton Lowspeak.
[UK]N. ‘Razor’ Smith Raiders 254: He coughed the lot about the hoover robberies.
[Aus]P. Temple Truth 72: He put the plug in his ear, found the place on the player. …listen, I’ve had a bloke, he’s offering … Coughing.
[UK]K. Sampson Killing Pool 116: From the moment Kalan coughed about Misha things have gone from bad to worse.
[Scot]A. Parks Bloody January 195: ‘That fat bastard in there came in and coughed’.

2. to hand over, to give, esp. money.

[US]C.L. Cullen Tales of the Ex-Tanks 256: I coughed a dollar for a seat.
[US]‘Hugh McHugh’ Down the Line 43: In the annals of the road no one could look back to the proud day when Sledgeheimer had coughed.
[US]K. McGaffey Sorrows of a Show Girl Ch. xi: Loosen up, cough, give down, come to, kick in. You’ve got to donate.
[Aus]A. Gurney Bluey & Curley 26 Apr. [synd. cartoon strip] You’ll cough that half quid....You cow.
[UK]J. Cameron It Was An Accident 15: Housing Benefit out to cough most of that.

In phrases

cough it (v.)

see sense 1 above.

cough on (v.)

to talk about.

[US]P. & T. Casey Gay-cat 41: Yuh ain’t seen my friend so I won’t cough on him no more.
cough up (v.)

see separate entry.