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Glite Dictionary
💻 Unauthorized access 🧑‍💻 Creative coding 🤧 A rough cough
hacking

hacking

1 3.9
A short harsh cough that sounds dry
  • noun
  • /ˈhækɪŋ/
translation icon : tos
  • But when we started up the stairs we heard a horrible hacking cough from somewhere in the basement.

But when we started up the stairs we heard a horrible hacking cough from somewhere in the basement.

Examples

  • The doctor reassured him that the hacking cough he had experienced was simply a symptom of the common cold.

  • But when we started up the stairs, we heard a horrible hacking cough from somewhere in the basement.

  • As the cold air settled in, she was disturbed by her neighbor's persistent hacking cough throughout the night.

  • During the winter months, many people suffer from a dry throat that causes a hacking cough.

Synonyms

coughing
vshacking
15 1.0

Forcing air out of the lungs with a sudden loud sound to clear the throat or because of illness

is harsher, shorter, and more repeated than that general action

How Severe

hacking
1 3.9
cough
271 1.0
coughing
15 1.0

Surface Forms

hacking singular
hackings plural

Morphology

hacking = hack (transparent) = hack + ing

Formed by the verb 'hack' + '-ing' denoting the action or event of coughing; a B1 learner familiar with 'hack' (to cough) would infer the meaning.

Etymology

Hacking for a cough comes from the old verb hack, which means 'to cut roughly' and gives the image of a sudden, chopping action in the throat. So a hacking cough is short, harsh, and repeated.