lose one's tongue

Writer, if you are ever in danger of losing your tongue, read Silences.

To the lieutenant she said fondly: "She's lost her tongue."

"So I heard," he replied, "from a man very eager not to lose his tongue."

We will shortly discover how he literally lost his tongue.

Had he seen, and spoken, His head should lose its tongue.

For one thing, stark terror had caused her to lose her tongue.

Let me introduce myself, since Jack seems to have lost his tongue.

The other as if in agreement emitted a braying sound, and Mark understood that this man had some- how lost his tongue.

"How did she lose her tongue if she stuttered so?"

It is possible that, like so many of his race in similar positions, he had already lost his native tongue.