tongue-tied

tongue-tied

1. Having the mobility of one's tongue restricted by an abnormally short frenum that binds it to the floor of the mouth. We couldn't figure out why our baby was having such trouble breastfeeding, until a specialist finally realized that he was mildly tongue-tied. Your son is severely tongue-tied, a condition that could impact his ability to speak properly if it is not treated soon enough.
2. Incapable of or having difficulty speaking, as due to fear, confusion, shyness, embarrassment, etc. I had a great pitch ready for the board of directors, but I found myself totally tongue-tied when I stepped into the room in front of them. The poor child gets awfully tongue-tied whenever she is confronted by an adult. The shocking event left everyone in the room tongue-tied.
3. Having trouble saying words clearly due to difficult alliteration or pronunciation, as found in tongue twisters. The doctor said the condition is called aceruloplasminemia. Just trying to say it out loud leaves me tongue-tied! In the game, you see who can say the silly rhyming phrase the fastest without getting tongue-tied.
Farlex Dictionary of Idioms.

tongue-tied

1. mod. unable to speak from fear or confusion. (Standard English.) Why do you get tongue-tied in front of a crowd?
2. mod. alcohol intoxicated. He was tongue-tied and couldn’t stand up.
McGraw-Hill's Dictionary of American Slang and Colloquial Expressions
See also:
  • stick (one's) tongue out
  • stick out (one's) tongue
  • stick tongue out
  • bite (one's) tongue
  • bite one's tongue
  • bite tongue
  • bite your tongue
  • stick (one's) tongue out at (someone or something)
  • stick out (one's) tongue at (someone or something)
  • tongue
References in periodicals archive
Hogan et al (2005) found 10.7% of babies born during their research appeared to be tongue-tied but only 44% of those experienced feeding problems.
Improving breastfeeding outcomes: the impact of tongue-tie
"After he had been diagnosed, I went to see my family and my mother said she had been tongue-tied as a baby as well and I never knew."
City hospital helping all tongue-tied babies
A bit more context to the beginnings of Tongue-Tied ...
Crashes into the silences we carry: an essay review of Otto Santa Ana's (editor), Tongue-Tied: The Lives of Multilingual Children in Public Education
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These include tongue-tied parents explaining the facts of life, adolescent chat-up lines, weird hospital speak, learning a foreign language, and an extended selection of song lyrics that range from the lazy through surreal to the ridiculous.
Spikey has the last word
Bottle feeding: A tongue-tied baby may also find bottle feeding hard.
He doesn't speak yet - not even 'mummy' myHealth Every mum wants to hear her child say "mummy" for the first time. Health Reporter HELEN RAE speaks to one woman whose son is yet to utter any words due to a condition that is hindering his speech development
I was dumbstruck, tongue-tied, unable to say even "hello" to the great man.
Faced by celebrity, I was totally tongue-tied
The 36-year-old actor got tongue-tied when asked to do the Midland accent for a play.
Frank taught me to speak Brummie, says Dr Who
It tells the story of shy Tim, too tongue-tied to declare his love to the girl of his dreams.
PICK Of THE WEEK: BEST THEATRE; TONIGHT'S THE NIGHT Wolverhampton Grand Theatre Monday to Saturday 01902 429212
THE book Tongue-Tied was produced by four disabled friends.
THOUGHT for the WEEK
But even the somewhat tongue-tied Lister was made to look like a babbler by John Mullins when he got the mike unexpectedly thrust at him.
Muttley at the awards: Remember, it's good to talk
Experts blame the trend for women getting tongue-tied on TV shows, films, music videos and Britney and Madonna's infamous clinch at last year's MTV music awards.
Kissing stars leave girls tongue-tied
John Russell Brown writes on devices in Shakespeare that convey sexual arousal in performance, such as tongue-tied first meetings or clumsy words, evasions, or nonsensical speech.
Shakespeare and Sexuality.
And Steve, of Plantshill Crescent, Tile Hill, certainly doesn't plan to be tongue-tied when it comes to promoting his unique talent.
Tongue twister record mister
The actors expertly manage to track simultaneously the ever-shifting emotional underscore and the stream of non sequiturs that pass for conversation between love-starved people too tongue-tied to ask for what they want.
Four. (Theater review: two by two: parallel stories about two teenagers--one gay, one straight--and their troubled first affairs show off the talents of young out playwright Christopher Shinn)