From Longman Dictionary of Contemporary Englishhacking coughˌhacking ˈcough noun [usually singular] MIa repeated painful cough with an unpleasant sound
Examples from the Corpus
hacking cough• A hacking cough from the porch heralded the arrival of Nancy Little and the Doctor.• I have this little dry hacking cough.• And I looked, dry hacking cough and head congestion.• Arriving there, he moved from flophouse to flophouse because none of his fellow tenants could endure his hacking cough.• Dry, teasing, hacking cough with a sense of suffocation.• Whether or not we will shortly have a passive computer lobby, it certainly gives a new meaning to the hacking cough. 