ear

ear

W2S2 [ıə US ır] n

↑ear, ↑nose, ↑tooth, ↑eye

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1¦(part of your body)¦

2¦(hearing)¦

3¦(grain)¦

4 smile/grin etc from ear to ear

5

6 a sympathetic ear

7 close/shut your ears to something

8 be all ears

9 be out on your ear

10 be up to your ears in work/debt/problems etc

11 have something coming out (of) your ears

12 keep your/an ear to the ground

13 keep your ears open

14 go in (at) one ear and out (at) the other

15 give somebody a thick ear

16 have somebody's ear

17 play something by ear

18 somebody's ears are burning

19 somebody's ears are flapping

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[Sense: 1,2; Origin: Old English eare]

[Sense: 3; Origin: Old English ear]

1.) ¦(PART OF YOUR BODY)¦

one of the organs on either side of your head that you hear with

▪ She tucked her hair behind her ears.

▪ She's had her ears pierced (=small holes made in her ears in order to wear earrings) .

whisper/say (sth) in sb's ear

▪ Lou turned to Mark and whispered something in his ear.

long-eared/short-eared etc

▪ a long-eared rabbit

inner/middle ear

(=the parts inside your ear which you use to hear sounds)

2.) ¦(HEARING)¦

used to talk about hearing

to sb's ears

▪ It sounds odd to the ears of an ordinary English speaker.

▪ I just wondered if the rumour had reached your ears (=if you had heard it) .

→prick (up) your ears at ↑prick¹ (5)

3.) ¦(GRAIN)¦

the top part of a plant such as wheat that produces grain

ear of

▪ an ear of corn

4.) smile/grin etc from ear to ear

to show that you are very happy or pleased by smiling a lot

▪ She came out of his office, beaming from ear to ear.

5.) [singular]

the ability to learn music, copy sounds etc

ear for

▪ She has no ear for languages at all.

▪ a good ear for dialogue

6.) a sympathetic ear

used to say that someone listens sympathetically to what someone is saying

▪ He's always prepared to lend a sympathetic ear .

7.) close/shut your ears to sth

to refuse to listen to bad or unpleasant news

▪ You can't just close your ears to their warnings.

→turn a deaf ear at ↑deaf, fall on deaf ears at ↑deaf

8.) be all ears informal

to be very keen to hear what someone is going to tell you

▪ As soon as I mentioned money, Karen was all ears.

9.) be out on your ear informal

to be forced to leave a job, organization etc, especially because you have done something wrong

▪ You'd better start working harder, or you'll be out on your ear.

10.) be up to your ears in work/debt/problems etc

to have a lot of work etc

11.) have sth coming out (of) your ears informal

to have too much of something

▪ We've got pumpkins coming out our ears this time of year.

12.) keep your/an ear to the ground

to make sure that you always know what is happening in a situation

13.) keep your ears open

to always be listening in order to find out what is happening or to hear some useful information

▪ I hope you'll all keep your eyes and ears open for anything unusual.

14.) go in (at) one ear and out (at) the other informal

if information goes in one ear and out the other, you forget it as soon as you have heard it

▪ I don't know why I tell her anything. It just goes in one ear and out the other.

15.) give sb a thick ear

BrE informal to hit someone on the ear

▪ Behave yourself or I'll give you a thick ear!

16.) have sb's ear

to be trusted by someone so that they will listen to your advice, opinions etc

▪ He claimed to have the ear of several top ministers.

17.) play sth by ear

to play music that you have heard without having to read written music

→play it by ear at ↑play¹ (11)

18.) sb's ears are burning

used to say that someone thinks that people are talking about them

19.) sb's ears are flapping

BrE spoken used to say that someone is trying to listen to your private conversation

→↑dog-eared

→bend sb's ear at ↑bend¹ (7)

→send sb off with a flea in their ear at ↑flea

→make a pig's ear of at ↑pig¹ (5)

→wet behind the ears at ↑wet¹ (7)