cough down
C1 informal separable transitive
In simple words
To stop someone from being heard by coughing a lot while they speak.
Literal meaning: To use coughing as a means to bring someone down — mostly transparent.
Meanings
1 C1 informal
To cause a speaker to stop or lose their audience by coughing loudly and persistently during their speech.
"The restless audience practically coughed the lecturer down before he reached his conclusion."
Grammar: separable
Usage notes
Extremely rare. Not found in standard dictionaries as a set phrase. Most likely used literally — an audience coughing so much that a speaker cannot be heard. Learners should note this is not a standard phrasal verb.
Commonly used with
speaker presenter performer audience
Forms
Base
cough down
I/you/we/they
3rd person
coughs down
he/she/it
Past simple
coughed down
yesterday
Past participle
coughed down
have + pp
-ing form
coughing down
continuous
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