ahem

interjection

1. 1

   The sound of a quiet cough or of clearing one's throat.

2. 2

   Demanding attention.

   Ahem! Could we please get started?

   Enter Nobody, and the Clowne. / Nobody. Ahem boy, Nobody is ſound yet for all his troubles.

3. 3

   Expresses disapproval or annoyance.

   Ahem! In case you didn't notice, I did my share of the work, too.

4. 4

   Indicates the speaker does not wish to be perceived as rude, often intimating an impolite meaning to a third party that the speaker is not addressing. Indicates subtle sarcasm, polite lying, or euphemism.

   I really (ahem!) liked the chocolate broccoli surprise.

5. 5

   Indicates the speaker does not wish to be perceived as rude, often intimating an impolite meaning to a third party that the speaker is not addressing. Indicates an unintentional or inappropriate pun.

   The tone of Fat is casual and ahem, digestible, while also providing a succinct and significant overview of fatness and some of the issues most relevant to the burgeoning field of fat studies.

verb

1. 1

   To cough or clear one's throat so as to draw attention.

   He wouldn't have been suspected of crying for the world, but he coughed and ahemmed, and finally turned away without speaking.

   A full inspiration, preparatory to hawking, ahemming, or premeditated careful coughing, would excite an explosion of an unusually violent and persistent cough, hurrying the breath out of the poor victims.

Forms

past tense

ahemmed

past participle

ahemmed

present participle

ahemming

third person singular

ahems