[f. COUGH v.1 + -ING1.] The action of the verb COUGH.
1398. Trevisa, Barth. De P. R., VI. i. (1495), 187. The olde man is … greuyd wyth coughynge and spyttynge.
c. 1400. Lanfranc’s Cirurg., 164. Greet akynge in his side & grevous cowȝyngs.
1588. Shaks., L. L. L., V. ii. 932. When … coffing drownes the Parsons saw.
1677. Gilpin, Dæmonol. (1867), 121. Disturbances, by coughings, hemmings, tramplings.
1855. Bain, Senses & Int., I. ii. § 18. Movements … belonging to the automatic or reflex class. Coughing is one of those.
transf. 1881. Daily News, 24 Feb., 5/4. The disagreeable sound, or ‘coughing,’ as it is technically called, of the engine is another objection raised against the employment of steam engines in the public streets.
attrib. 1607. Walkington, Opt. Glass, 122. The coughing motion.
1679. Sir T. Browne, Wks. (1848), III. 462. There are very great numbers of quartans; ’tis also a coughing time.
1753. N. Torriano, Gangr. Sore Throat, 94. At every Coughing-bout.
