ughint.n.
/ʊh/, /ʊx/, /ʌh/, /ʌx/, /əː/, /əh/, /əːh/, /ə/, U.S. /ʊh/, /ʊx/, /əh/, /əx/, /ə/ 1. A representation of an inarticulate sound of the nature of a hollow cough; a sound or utterance of this nature.
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1765 S. Foote Commissary i. 11 Ugh, ugh, ugh—[coughs].
1822 W. Scott Fortunes of Nigel II. xii. 281 The usurer..concluded his speech with a dry..‘ugh, ugh’.
1859 W. M. Thackeray Virginians li The next moment,..with an ugh, the Indian fell over my chest dead.
1887 L. Oliphant Episodes (1888) 70 My address was frequently interrupted by what Fenimore Cooper calls ‘expressive ughs’.
2. An interjection expressive of disgust.
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1838 W. Howitt Rural Life Eng. I. ii. v. 187 The overhanging banks of the most transparent streams—ugh! they are now the very lurking-places of danger!
1855 R. Browning Childe Roland xxi It may have been a water-rat I speared, But, ugh! it sounded like a baby's shriek.
1878 R. W. Dale Lect. Preaching (ed. 3) viii. 242 Physic..all the year round;..ugh!—it is intolerable.
This entry has not yet been fully updated (first published 1921; most recently modified version published online March 2022).
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int.n.1765