"hiccough" is correct and usable in written English.
You can use it to refer to a spasmodic contraction of the diaphragm and consequent closure of the glottis, producing an inspiratory sound followed by a sudden closure of the glottis, which interrupts the expiration of air. For example, "The baby had a hiccough after drinking too much milk."
Chips: tch as in match, o as in women, gh as in hiccough.
Even during the stockmarket crash of 1929, there was a mere hiccough before prices sailed higher.
Yes, there was the odd technical hiccough and true, the extended pre-'White Flag' orchestral section was probably not the best thing to buoy the spirits of a sunstroked, flagging crowd.
Others may stumble, but not you on hiccough, thorough, slough and through.
Into the 20th century, other jokey respellings made the rounds, such as ghoughphtheightteeau for potato (that's gh as in hiccough, ough as in though, phth as in phthisis, eigh as in neigh, tte as in gazette and eau as in beau).
The fact that through, rough, dough, plough, hiccough and trough all end with -ough, yet none of them sound the same as any of the others, is the sort of thing that has been vexing poets and learners of English for quite some time.
"His tales made very appealing listening," the real Jane wrote in her memoir Travelling to Infinity, "particularly because of his way of hiccoughing with laughter, almost suffocating himself, at the jokes he told, many of them against himself".
Scheduled to be completed by 2010, the plan, like most IT projects, has had some early hiccoughs and has been greeted with cynicism by some doctors.
Iranian oil, when it reached the pumps of the western world, did so only in convulsive hiccoughs, setting the conditions for Opec more readily to raise oil prices, which it did in both June and December.
It's astonishing that four-and-a-half years later, with peers having passed the bill, the UK parliament has effectively decided to pass equal marriage into law, bar any last minute hiccoughs.
"According to gossip I'm this champagne bubble of a girl about town," she hiccoughs, by way of introduction.
