to hack
8
5.8
- verb
- /hæk/
:
toser
- Nothing serious, just long nights of me hacking like an emphysema patient at a bonfire.
- coughs and hacks
- hack up phlegm
- hack up a lung
Examples
-
During the winter, many people hack and cough as they catch colds from the cold air.
-
I just don't want you hacking up your lung in my drink, okay?
-
I watch him hack until his eyes water.
Fiction book (1995) -
Their butt will be up in the air and they will just hack, hack, hack, hack.
-
Your wife's been hacking up a storm since you got here.
-
Tuesday began with the humble sound of Elyria's cat hacking up hairballs on the foot of my bed.
Fiction book (1995) -
I rose, red-faced and coughing, and managed to excuse myself, hacking politely into a handkerchief as I backed away.
Fiction book (1992) -
She was hacking loud enough that everyone in the library turned to see what was happening.
-
He couldn't stop hacking after inhaling smoke from the fire, causing the room to fill with ash.
Synonyms
254
1.0
To push air out of the lungs suddenly, often to clear the throat
Antonyms
Phrasal Verbs
Compounds
- Offensive
3
8.6
A politician who works for their party or friends to benefit themselves
A hand saw with a thin blade and many small teeth for cutting metal and other hard materials
How Rough
Surface Forms
Etymology
The verb hack for coughing loudly is an imitative word that copies the harsh sound of a cough, so a 'hacking' cough is one that is short, rough, and repeated.