Tartle

Part of speech: verb

Definitions

1. To pause or hesitate awkwardly, particularly when unable to recall or name a person one knows
2. To falter in speech or stall before introducing someone, often because the name has slipped from memory
3. Scottish dialect for hesitating or stumbling over a name, especially when meeting an acquaintance

Etymology: "Tartle" is a Scots word for the moment of hesitation when you cannot recall someone's name, especially while trying to introduce them to another person. The sense is tied to that awkward social pause, when a speaker stalls mid-sentence, unable to produce the name they need. Its ancestry is much less certain. It is a dialect word, most associated with Scots, and its exact source has not been confidently traced, so any proposed origin should be treated as speculation. Because it stayed largely regional, it survives mainly in Scottish speech rather than in standard English.

Synonyms: hesitate, falter, waver, demur, hang back

Antonyms: proceed, advance, persist, commit