cough and die

from Jargon File (4.4.4, 14 Aug 2003)

cough and die
 v.

   Syn. {barf}. Connotes that the program is throwing its hands up by
   design rather than because of a bug or oversight. "The parser saw a
   control-A in its input where it was looking for a printable, so it
   coughed and died." Compare {die}, {die horribly}, {scream and die}.

from The Free On-line Dictionary of Computing (8 July 2008)

cough and die

   <jargon> {barf}.  Connotes that the program is throwing its
   hands up by design rather than because of a bug or oversight.
   "The parser saw a control-A in its input where it was looking
   for a printable, so it coughed and died."

   Compare {die}, {die horribly}, {scream and die}.

   [{Jargon File}]

   (1995-03-07)

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