▪ I. hiccup, n.
(ˈhɪkʌp)
Forms: α. 6 hicke up, hikup, 6–7 hickop, 7 hickhop, hecup, 7–8 hiccop, 7–9 hickup, hick-up, 7– hiccup; β. 7– hiccough. See also hicket, hickock.
[Hickop, hiccup, appears, from its date, to be a variation of the earlier hickock, hicket q.v. Hiccough was a later spelling, app. under the erroneous impression that the second syllable was cough, which has not affected the received pronunciation, and ought to be abandoned as a mere error.]
a. An involuntary spasm of the respiratory organs, consisting in a quick inspiratory movement of the diaphragm checked suddenly by closure of the glottis, and accompanied by a characteristic sound. Also, the affection consisting in a succession of such spasms.
| α 1580 Hollyband Treas. Fr. Tong, Le hoquet, the hickop, yexing. 1581 Mulcaster Positions x. (1887) 57 For the hikup. 1621 Burton Anat. Mel. iii. ii. vi. ii. (1651) 553 By some false accusation, as they do to such as have the hick⁓hop, to make them forget it. 1635 R. Brathwait Arcad. Pr. 124 In the afternoone I am ever taken with a dry hecup. 1671 Salmon Syn. Med. iii. xvii. 375 If the Hiccup come after taking it. 1727 Bradley Fam. Dict. s.v., You must in the very instant that the Hickup seizes the Party pull his Ring-Finger, and it will go off. 1893 Baring-Gould Cheap-Jack Z. II. 190 Constitutional and chronic fits of hiccups. |
| β 1626 Bacon Sylva §686 It hath beene obserued by the Ancients, that Sneezing doth cease the Hiccough. 1744 Birch Life Boyle in Boyle's Wks. I. 83 (R.) Some are freed from the hiccough, by being told of some feigned ill news or even of some other things, that but excites a great attention of mind. 1794–6 E. Darwin Zoon. I. 33 Seized with most violent convulsions of her limbs, with outrageous hiccough. 1876 Foster Phys. ii. ii. (1879) 356 Hiccough. |
† b. transf. A spasmodic affection of some other organ. Obs.
| 1634 Heywood & Brome Lanc. Witches i. H's. Wks. 1874 IV. 184 O my hart has got the hickup, and all lookes greene about me. |
c. attrib. hiccup-nut S. Afr., the fruit of an ornamental shrub, Combretum (Poivrea) bracteosum, belonging to the family Combretaceæ; also, the plant itself; hiccup strike [It. sciopero a singhiozzi] colloq., a strike normally of short duration which forms part of a series of similar and irregularly spaced strikes.
| 1862 Harvey & Sonder Flora Capensis II. 512 P[oivrea] bracteosa... Fruit oval or slightly obovate, indistinctly 5-angled, glabrous, 1-seeded. Called ‘*Hiccup-nut’ in the colony. 1868 J. Chapman Trav. II. App. 447 The exquisite heads of scarlet flowers of the Hiccup-nut. 1899 Wood & Evans Natal Plants I. ii. 63 The fruit is known locally as ‘Hiccup Nut’ and is palatable, but usually produces violent hiccough. 1951 Dict. Gardening (R. Hort. Soc.) II. 531/1 C. bracteosum. Hiccup-nut. |
| 1950 Times 27 Jan., In the meantime the ‘*hiccup’ strikes go on in the Paris region, where 12 'bus lines were out of action. 1962 Daily Tel. 28 June 26/3 Most are on what are known in Italy as ‘hiccup strike’, two-day stoppages at irregular intervals. |
Hence hiccupy a., marked by hiccups.
| 1853 Lytton My Novel II. vii. x. 225 Long and loud talk recommenced, Burley's great voice predominant, Mr. Douce chiming in with hiccupy broken treble. 1895 Du Maurier Trilby 165 He sang with a very cracked and hiccupy voice. 1911 J. C. Lincoln Cap'n Warren's Wards i. 2 The train slowed down, in a jerky hiccoughy sort of way. 1968 Listener 11 July 55/2 Chopped-up, hiccupy sentences, often one word long. 1971 Daily Tel. 16 Oct. 7/6 The old Japanese anemone, mentioned in catalogues..as having the hiccupy name of Anemone hupehensis. |
Senses a, b, c in Dict. become 1 a, b, and 3. Add: 2. fig. A sudden brief or minor interruption in the normal progress of something; a hitch, setback; a decline in (esp. financial) performance which is assumed to be temporary.
| 1965 Britannica Bk. of Year (U.S.) 869/1 Hiccup, adj. Informal. Using a direct dramatic opening for a movie, so that continuity must then be interrupted for the title and credits. 1968 Listener 13 June 761/2 The five weeks of May and early June 1968 may be seen as a mere hiccup before that trend once more assumed its steady upward curve. 1972 Times 20 May 18/7 The managers took advantage of the recent hiccup in the market to buy the dividend units at a lower price. 1982 B. Beaumont Thanks to Rugby iii. 34 Life took a sharp turn for the better after that initial hiccup. 1990 Business Apr. 59/1 We look at anomalies in past financial performance—to see whether, for example, there has been a hiccup in gross margins. |
▪ II. hiccup, v.
(ˈhɪkʌp)
[f. prec. n.]
1. intr. To make the sound of a hiccup; to be affected with hiccup.
| α 1580 Hollyband Treas. Fr. Tong, Hoqueter, to hickop. 1684 tr. Bonet's Merc. Compit. xvi. 564 A Boy ten years old, Hickuped day and night for 8 dayes. 1798 Ellis in Anti-Jacobin xiii. (1852) 58 He spoke; and to the left and right, Norfolk hiccupp'd with delight. 1852 R. S. Surtees Sponge's Sp. Tour liv. 315 He hiccuped and spluttered at almost every word. |
| β 1748 Hartley Observ. Man i. i. 97 Sneezing, Hiccoughing, Vomiting. 1844 Dickens Mart. Chuz. xxv, As if a passing fairy had hiccoughed. |
2. trans. To utter or bring out with interruption of hiccups, as a drunken person.
| 1788 Dibdin Musical Tour vi. 20 Convivial lords..hiccup out non nobis domine. 1851 Thackeray Eng. Hum. i. (1876) 155 [They] hiccupped Church and State with fervour. 1855 Macaulay Hist. Eng. xix. IV. 222 An idle word hiccoughed out when they were drunk. |
Hence ˈhiccuping vbl. n. and ppl. a.
| 1748 [see 1 β]. 1803 Beddoes Hygëia ix. 23 Sobbing and hiccuping..accompany epileptic fits. 1859 Sat. Rev. VII. 426/2 The dull apologies, the hiccuping excuses. |