a frog in your throat

The feeling that something is caught or stuck in one's throat. Could refer to actual hoarseness or the inability to speak due to fear. This cold has left me with such a frog in my throat that I can barely talk! A: "Elise couldn't say a word in the meeting and looked completely terrified." B: "Man, she must have had a frog in her throat."

Difficulty talking because of the need to cough or clear one's throat. It's taking a long time to get over this cold. I'm tired of feeling like I have a frog in my throat every time I try to talk.

If you have a frog in your throat, you find it difficult to speak clearly because you need to cough. I've got a bit of a cough, excuse me, a frog in my throat. You may have a frog in your throat, but that's no excuse for not belting out that aria. Compare with a lump in your throat. Note: In medieval times, there was a belief that if you drank water containing frogspawn (= frogs' eggs), the frogs would grow inside your body. People believed that sore throats and coughing could be caused by the frogs trying to escape from your stomach through your throat.