oral gratification

plural oral gratifications

1. countableuncountablehuman sciencesIn Freudian psychology, the satisfaction felt in infancy when the need for food, especially from the mother's breast, is fulfilled, and which in later life can be associated with such dysfunctional behaviors as excessive eating, drinking, or smoking.

   Oral gratification was offered almost continuously—between-meal nourishment, before-bed treats, chewing gum and toys which could be sucked and chewed.

   1958, E. I. Falstein, H. A. Sutton, “Childhood Schizophrenia”, in The American Journal of Nursing, volume 58, number 5, page 669

   2 more examples

   These experiences left him with a rather unsteady control over his angry impulses, particularly when denied oral gratification such as a drink of liquor.

   1980, Waud Kracke, “The Complementarity of Social and Psychological Regularities: Leadership as a Mediating Phenomenon”, in Ethos, volume 8, number 4, page 281

   Smoking is, at heart, oral gratification. There is, shall we say, a certain sexual implication in putting our lips around a long, thin object, ingesting its essence into the mouth, perhaps swallowing it, then expelling it.

   2003 November 22, Richard Corliss, “That Old Feeling: The Great American Smoke”, in Time, retrieved 30 Mar 2014