brain freeze

English

Noun

brain freeze (usually uncountable, plural brain freezes)

1. (informal) A pain in the head from eating or drinking something cold; a cold-stimulus headache.
2. (psychology) Failure to remember something, with the sense that recall is imminent.
   • 2006, Paul Rodriguez, “Talking brains: a cognitive semantic analysis of an emerging folk neuropsychology”, in Public Understanding of Science, volume 15, page 311:

     I apologize for giving you another name a moment ago, that was a brain freeze on my part.

   • 2011, James N. Laditka et al., "Older adults' concerns about cognitive health: commonalities and differences among six United States ethnic groups", Ageing and Society, vol. 31 (7), p. 1214:

     I call it a brain freeze at this age, but whenever you have some kind of a problem remembering something, you think, oh, you know, you automatically think about Alzheimer’s.

   • 2016, Josh Lederman, Patrick Mairs, “Brain freeze? Gary Johnson can’t name favorite world leader”, in PBS NewsHour, Associated Press:

     Call it a brain freeze, another 'Aleppo moment,' or a mere campaign stumble, but Gary Johnson has stumbled again in his quixotic presidential campaign.

Synonyms

• (pain in the head): ice cream headache
• (failure to remember): tip of the tongue, presque vu

Translations

pain in the head from eating or drinking something cold

• German: Hirnfrost (de) m, Kältekopfschmerz (de) m

Further reading

• Ice-cream headache on Wikipedia.Wikipedia