tonguetied

Adjective

tongue-tied (comparative more tongue-tied, superlative most tongue-tied)

1. Having tongue-tie or ankyloglossia (“a congenital oral anomaly in which the lingual frenulum (a membrane connecting the underside of the tongue to the floor of the mouth) is unusually short and thick, decreasing mobility of the tongue and affecting eating, speech, etc.”).
2. (figuratively) Prevented from or unable to express oneself clearly or fluently, or freely; at a loss for words, speechless.
   • But it ſeemes to mee that Dauid meeneth cheefly, that among the blaſphemies of his foes wherewith they endeuered too ouerwhelme hys Faythe, he himſelfe was not tungtyde: but rather lifted vp his voyce vnto God, whom the vngodly ſurmiſed to haue bin turned against him.1571, John Calvin, “[Commentary on Psalm 3:5]”, in Arthur Golding, transl., The Psalmes of Dauid and Others. With M. Iohn Caluin’s Commentaries, London: […] Thomas East and Henry Middelton; for Lucas...
3. (figuratively) Reluctant to speak up; reserved, reticent.
   • I was all this while chafing at the part I played, and sitting tongue-tied between shame and merriment; but somehow at this I could hold in no longer, and bade Alan let me be, for I was better already.1886 May 1 – July 31, Robert Louis Stevenson, “End of the Flight: We Pass the Forth”, in Kidnapped, being Memoirs of the Adventures of David Balfour in the Year 1751: […], London; Paris: Cassell &...
4. (figuratively, poetic) Physically unable to speak; dumb, mute.