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Fine Dictionary

hiccough

ˈhɪkəp
WordNet
Interesting fact
From 13th June'1948 to 1st June'1958 a citizen of Los Angeles hiccoughed 160,000,000 times. People sent him 60,000 suggestions for cures.
  1. (v) hiccough
    breathe spasmodically, and make a sound "When you have to hiccup, drink a glass of cold water"
  2. (n) hiccough
    (usually plural) the state of having reflex spasms of the diaphragm accompanied by a rapid closure of the glottis producing an audible sound; sometimes a symptom of indigestion "how do you cure the hiccups?"
Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary
Interesting fact
The combination "ough" can be pronounced in 9 different ways; Read this: "A rough-coated, dough-faced, thoughtful ploughman strode through the streets of Scarborough; after falling into a slough, he coughed and hiccoughed."
  1. Hiccough
    (Physiol) A modified respiratory movement; a spasmodic inspiration, consisting of a sudden contraction of the diaphragm, accompanied with closure of the glottis, so that further entrance of air is prevented, while the impulse of the column of air entering and striking upon the closed glottis produces a sound, or hiccough.
  2. Hiccough
    To have a hiccough or hiccoughs.
Etymology

Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary OE. hickup, hicket, hickock,; prob. of imitative origin; cf. D. & Dan. hik, Sw. hicka, Armor. hak, hik, W. ig, F. hoquet,

Usage in literature

Hill bid them good night, and hiccoughed off toward his own quarters; and Hiram with Innis went to the Franklin House. "The Continental Monthly , Vol. 2 No. 5, November 1862" by Various

It was that which kept him on his feet and jaunty and swaggering so long, that which clenched his teeth on the hiccoughs of his death agony. "The Nabob, Vol. 2 (of 2)" by Alphonse Daudet

Her face was bowed forward and covered with her hands, and she was shaken at intervals by the convulsive hiccough of grief. "The Short-story" by William Patterson Atkinson

From across the room sounded a hiccough that ended in a dry hacking cough. "Bloom of Cactus" by Robert Ames Bennet

It's in the hiccoughing throat of him. "Despair's Last Journey" by David Christie Murray

He wheedled, laughed, swore, and hiccoughed, turn by turn, but she was silent. "Chivalry" by James Branch Cabell

It was at about this time that the siren in the Shed began its choppy, hiccoughing series of warm-up notes. "Space Platform" by Murray Leinster

But "Whisky Jim" straightened himself up, and hiccoughed, and stammered "By thunder! "Duffels" by Edward Eggleston

The owner of the red fez and the night-blooming hiccoughs craved another pillow and a table. "Lady Luck" by Hugh Wiley

Don't you remember the time you woke me in the night and sent me after Doctor Fraser because Jenny had a bad attack of the hiccoughs? "Virginia" by Ellen Glasgow