find one's tongue
English
editVerb
editfind one's tongue (third-person singular simple present finds one's tongue, present participle finding one's tongue, simple past and past participle found one's tongue)
- (idiomatic) To speak after being unable to do so or after remaining silent; to find something to say.
- The template Template:RQ:Jonson Epicoene does not use the parameter(s):
url=http://name.umdl.umich.edu/A04632.0001.001
Please see Module:checkparams for help with this warning.1609 December (first performance), Beniamin Ionson [i.e., Ben Jonson], “Epicoene, or The Silent Woman. A Comœdie. […]”, in The Workes of Beniamin Ionson (First Folio), London: […] Will[iam] Stansby, published 1616, →OCLC, Act III, scene vi, page 562:- HAVGHTY. Is this the silent woman?
CENTAVRE. Nay, shee has found her tongue since shee was married, master TRVE-WIT sayes.
- 1749, Henry Fielding, chapter 5, in The History of Tom Jones, a Foundling, volumes (please specify |volume=I to VI), London: A[ndrew] Millar, […], →OCLC, book 5, page 225:
- Jones, tho’ perhaps, the most astonished of the three, first found his Tongue; and […] he burst into a loud Laughter […]
- 1900 December – 1901 August, H[erbert] G[eorge] Wells, “chapter 8”, in The First Men in the Moon, London: George Newnes, […], published 1901, →OCLC, page 87:
- But I did not answer at once. I stared incredulous. For an instant I could not believe my eyes. I gave an inarticulate cry. I gripped his arm. I pointed. “Look!” I cried, finding my tongue. “There! Yes! And there!”
- 2000, Zadie Smith, White Teeth, London: Hamish Hamilton, →ISBN, page 300:
- Joyce knew things were going badly, but she couldn’t find her tongue to smooth it out. A million dangerous double entendres were sitting at the back of her throat, and, if she opened her mouth even a slit (!), she feared one of them was going to come out.
- The template Template:RQ:Jonson Epicoene does not use the parameter(s):
Translations
editto speak after being unable to do so or after remaining silent
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