Refers to where you feel a cough coming on while your mouth is full of food/drink, and so you hastily down the entire mouthful so that your mouth and throat will be free to expel the cough "cleanly", rather than there being a humongous "geyser" of messy stuff to go flying all over the place and disgustingly splattering everything within a several-foot radius.
I'd just swallowed a big bite of spicy-hot chili and was in the process of washing it down with a swig of cold milk when I felt an overpowering urge to choke, so I did a hasty pre-cough swallow to avoid a spluttery shower of tomato-tinted milk all over my new tablecloth.
by QuacksO August 1, 2018
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