cough drop

IPA/ˈkɒf ˌdrɒp/
IPA/ˈkɑːf ˌdrɑːp/

cough drop — noun

1. a small sweetened candy with medicine inside that slowly dissolves on your tongu

1.nounB1
Definition

a small sweetened candy with medicine inside that slowly dissolves on your tongue to relieve a sore throat or quiet a cough.

Example

Nala sucked on a cough drop to quiet her dry cough before the meeting started.

collocation: suck on a cough drop

Otis always keeps a pack of lemon-flavored cough drops in his coat pocket during winter.

collocation: pack of [flavor] cough drops

Common collocations
  • suck on a cough drop
  • dissolve a cough drop
  • lemon cough drop
  • honey cough drop
  • menthol cough drop
  • herbal cough drop
Synonyms
  • throat lozenge

    more formal term often used on product packaging

  • cough lozenge

    more specific than 'throat lozenge'; emphasises the cough-relief purpose

  • throat sweet

    chiefly British; softer, less medical register

Grammar Patterns

cough drop

cough drops

Usage Note

Cough drops are meant to be dissolved slowly in the mouth, not chewed or swallowed whole. They are usually sold in wrapped individual pieces inside a bag or box.

Common Mistakes

I took a spoonful of cough drop before bed.
I took a spoonful of cough syrup before bed.
'cough drop' is a hard lozenge, not a liquid medicine.
She swallowed the cough drop with water.
She let the cough drop dissolve slowly in her mouth.
Cough drops are designed to dissolve in the mouth, not to be swallowed like a pill.

Word family

  • cough
    verbA2
  • cough
    nounA2
  • drop
    verbA1
  • drop
    nounA1
  • cough syrup
    nounB1
  • cough medicine
    nounB1
  • throat lozenge
    nounC1

Synonym discussion

Sense: noun/1

Cough drop is the everyday word in American English for a medicated hard candy that relieves coughing. Throat lozenge sounds more clinical and appears on packaging; it can also refer to non-medicated sweets that simply soothe the throat. Cough lozenge is the British-preferred equivalent, though it is less common in everyday speech than cough drop or sweet. Throat sweet is chiefly British and often implies a milder, sugar-based confection with light medicinal ingredients rather than a strong medicated product. Pastille is a French-derived term for a small, round medicinal lozenge; it is rarely used in ordinary conversation and appears mostly in medical or historical writing. For everyday use at a pharmacy or in casual conversation, cough drop is the safest choice.

throat lozengecough lozengethroat sweetpastille ↗

Common collocations

Nouns

Phrases

  • suck on a cough drop
  • offer someone a cough drop
  • recommend a cough drop
  • buy a pack of cough drops
  • keep cough drops handy

Etymology

Old EnglishEnglish

The compound 'cough drop' joins 'cough' (from Old English cohhian, an onomatopoeic word imitating the sound of a cough) with 'drop' (from Old English dropa, meaning a small globule of liquid). The word 'drop' has been used since the 1700s to describe small medicinal lozenges, which were originally made by letting a thick syrup 'drop' from a spoon onto a flat surface to harden. The specific combination 'cough drop' appeared in the early 1800s as factory-made medicated lozenges became widely available.

First known use

1806

1806, in the meaning defined above