collect one's thoughts

present singular third person collects one's thoughts · participle present collecting one's thoughts · participle past collected one's thoughts · past collected one's thoughts

1. idiomaticTo become mentally composed, especially after being distressed, surprised, or disoriented; to become calm or organized in one's emotional state or thinking, as in preparation for a conversation, speech, decision, etc.

   I got up feverish and nervous. I walked out before breakfast, striving to collect my thoughts and tranquilize my feelings.

   1820, Washington Irving, “The Early Experiences of Ralph Ringwood,”, in The Crayon Papers

   3 more examples

   I took a moment to collect my thoughts, and likewise to frame in French the sentence by which I proposed to open business.

   1857, Charlotte Brontë, chapter 7, in The Professor

   She fell sprawling upon a green meadow and was so dazed and bewildered by her bumpy journey across the Merry-Go-Round Mountains that she lay quite still for a time to collect her thoughts.

   1917, L. Frank Baum, chapter 7, in The Lost Princess of Oz

   "I'm a believer, umm," Mr. Bloomberg said before standing silently at the lectern for seven seconds as he collected his thoughts.

   2001 July 30, Dean E. Murphy, “Political Memo; Being Mike Bloomberg, Without a Script or a Doubt”, in New York Times, retrieved 11 Oct 2008

   Synonyms: collect one's wits, gather one's thoughts, gather one's wits