tongue-tie

plural tongue-ties · alternative tongue tie

1. uncountablemedicineAnkyloglossia, a congenital oral anomaly.
2. countableA piece of cloth used to tie down a horse's tongue, to facilitate breathing etc.

present singular third person tongue-ties · participle present tongue-tying · participle past tongue-tied · past tongue-tied · alternative tongue tie

1. transitiveTo disconcert or fluster (a person) so that they cannot speak coherently.

   Marry—as the friendly vapour ascended, how his prattle would curl up sometimes with it! the ligaments, which tongue-tied him, were loosened, and the stammerer proceeded a statist!

   1833, [Charles Lamb], “Preface. By a Friend of the Late Elia.”, in The Last Essays of Elia. […], London: Edward Moxon, […], →OCLC, page ix