to cough up a hairball
1
7.2
- phrasal verb
:
expulsar un bola de pelo
- After eating too much fur, the cat will always cough up a hairball on my favorite chair.
Examples
-
Some cats cough up a hairball more frequently during shedding season.
-
I knew something was wrong when the kitten tried to cough up a hairball but couldn't.
-
Every few weeks, my cat will cough up a hairball on the living room rug.
-
My cat always coughs up a hairball after grooming.
-
Don't cough up a hairball on the carpet!
-
My cat started to cough, and suddenly she coughs up a hairball on the carpet.
-
To my surprise, the kitten managed to cough up a hairball after playing with her fur.
Synonyms
315
1.0
To force liquid out of the mouth, often onto the ground
94
2.3
To push food or drink out of your mouth
1
9.9
To force something out of the mouth, like saliva or vomit
How Forceful
Surface Forms
Morphology
The meaning is directly compositional: 'cough' (expel air from the throat) + the particle 'up' (bringing something out) + 'hairball' (a mass of hair) clearly yields 'expel a hairball from the mouth'. This follows a common English phrasal-verb pattern with a literal physical image that a B1 learner who knows the constituents can readily infer.
Etymology
Cough up a hairball shows a simple picture: a cat coughs and pushes a small ball of fur out of its mouth. The parts cough up and hairball name the action and the object, so the phrase means 'to bring up a hairball'.