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Dictionary

Words, grammatical forms and meanings linked to the ontology.

find one's tongue en · VERB

Meanings

  1. (idiomatic) To speak after being unable to do so or after remaining silent; to find something to say.
    • 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. 2000, Zadie Smith, White Teeth, London: Hamish Hamilton, →ISBN, page 300:
    • Jones, tho’ perhaps, the most astonished of the three, first found his Tongue; and […] he burst into a loud Laughter […] 1749, Henry Fielding, chapter 5, in The History of Tom Jones, a Foundling, volume (please specify |volume=I to VI), London: A[ndrew] Millar, […], →OCLC, book V, page 225:
    • HAVGHTY. Is this the silent woman? CENTAVRE. Nay, shee has found her tongue since shee was married, master TRVE-WIT sayes. 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:
    • 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!” 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:

Forms

SpellingFeaturesLabelsSource
found one's tongue Tense=Past, VerbForm=Part lexicographic
found one's tongue Tense=Past lexicographic
finds one's tongue Number=Sing, Person=3, Tense=Pres lexicographic
finding one's tongue Tense=Pres, VerbForm=Part lexicographic

Translations (5)

cmn 打破沉默 (to speak after being unable to do so or after remaining silent) · pl odzyskiwać mowę (to speak after being unable to do so or after remaining silent) · fi löytää kielensä (to speak after being unable to do so or after remaining silent) · hu megoldódik a nyelve (to speak after being unable to do so or after remaining silent) · pl odzyskać mowę (to speak after being unable to do so or after remaining silent)