earwitness

English

WOTD – 3 September 2016

Etymology

From ear +‎ witness, by analogy with eyewitness.

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /ˈɪə̯wɪtnəs/, /-wɪtnɪs/

• Audio (Southern England)

  (file)

• (General American) IPA^(key): /ˈɪɹwɪtnəs/, /-wɪtnɪs/
• Hyphenation: ear‧wit‧ness

Noun

earwitness (plural earwitnesses)

1. A witness who gives evidence of what he or she has heard. [from 16th c.]
   • 1745 May 9, Joseph Butler, “A Sermon Preached in the Parish Church of Christ-Church, London; on Thursday, May 9, 1745. Being the Time of the Yearly Meeting of the Children Educated in the Charity-Schools, in and about the Cities of London and Westminster. [Sermon IV.]”, in Fifteen Sermons Preached at the Rolls Chapel [...] To which are Added Six Sermons Preached on Publick Occasions, 5th edition, London: Printed for Robert Horsfield, at the Crown in Ludgate-Street, published 1765, →OCLC, page 106:

     But the Poor, as they cannot provide Persons to educate their Children; so from the Way in which they live together in poor Families, a Child must be an Eye and Ear-witness of the worst Part of his Parents Talk and Behaviour.

   • 1851, Are Roman Catholics Allowed to Read the Bible? A Compendium of the Doctrine and Practice of the Church of Rome, in Reference to the Use of Scripture; Contained in a Correspondence, between a Roman Catholic Layman, and a Protestant Layman. Occasioned by a Late Meeting on the Papal Aggression, London: Seeleys. Fleet Street, and Hanover Street; London: T. Edmondson; Lancaster, →OCLC, page 63:

     My object being to ascertain the truth, and the truth only, on receiving your last letter I immediately wrote to the Rev. H. Seymour, author of the "Pilgrimage to Rome," although I have no acquaintance with him–and I now give you the evidence of this eye and ear-witness, as copied from his letter, dated Bath, Feb. 6th, 1851, now lying before me.

   • 1939, James Joyce, Finnegans Wake, London: Faber and Faber, page 5:

     Our cubehouse still rocks as earwitness to the thunder of his arafatas but we hear also through successive ages that shebby choruysh of unkalified muzzlenimiissilehims that would blackguardise the whitestone ever hurtleturtled out of heaven.

   • 1999, Ray Bull, Brian Clifford, “Earwitness Testimony”, in Anthony Heaton-Armstrong, Eric Shepherd, David Wolchover, editors, Analysing Witness Testimony, London: Blackstone Press, →ISBN, page 194:

     In December 1996 almost the entire front page of a daily newspaper was devoted to the report of a court case involving earwitness testimony.

   • 2001, Diana Dwyer, “Witness Testimony”, in Angles on Criminal Psychology (Angles on Psychology Series), Cheltenham: Nelson Thornes, →ISBN, page 72:

     Compared with eyewitness testimony very little research has been conducted on the accuracy of ‘earwitness’ testimony, the identification of an individual by voice.

Translations

witness who gives evidence of what he or she has heard

• Finnish: todistaja (fi)
• French: témoin auriculaire m
• German: Ohrenzeuge (de), Ohrenzeugin (de) f
• Hungarian: fültanú (hu)

Verb

earwitness (third-person singular simple present earwitnesses, present participle earwitnessing, simple past and past participle earwitnessed)

1. To hear an event directly.

Anagrams

• wateriness