lump in one's throat

1. A feeling of constriction in the throat caused by emotion, as in The bride's mother had a lump in her throat. This expression likens the sense of a physical swelling to the tight sensation caused by strong feelings. [Mid-1800s]

Example Sentences

She is of a piece with that gentle innocent ladylike school of art whereof the greatest triumph is "a lump in one's throat," and where wit and passion, scorn and pomp, have no place.

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She did not know nor care just now what an adverb was, and it is very hard to study with a great lump in one's throat, and tears in one's eyes.

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Its streets are narrow and badly paved, and there are unexpected turnings which bring up a lump in one's throat when he is driving at his most careful gait and is suddenly confronted with a governess's cart full of children, a perambulator, and a bath-chair, all in the middle of the road, where, surely, the two latter have no right to be.

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Some of the left-over sensations had remained during the singing, and as the middle notes happen to involve the same muscles as does a lump in one's throat, she had often found herself choking over these notes.

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I could not help whispering my fears to Mr. Barnett, who gulped when he answered, as if he also knew what it is to have that dreadful lump in one's throat.

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