ear
EnglishEdit
PronunciationEdit
- (UK) IPA(key): /ɪə̯/
Audio (RP) (file)
- (US, Canada), IPA(key): /ɪɚ/, /ˈir/
- Rhymes: -ɪə(ɹ)
- Homophone: -eer
Etymology 1Edit
From Middle English ere, eare, from Old English ēare (“ear”), from Proto-West Germanic *auʀā, from the voiced Verner alternant of Proto-Germanic *ausô (“ear”) (compare Scots ear, West Frisian ear, Dutch oor, German Ohr, Swedish öra, Danish øre), from Proto-Indo-European *h₂ṓws (compare Old Irish áu, Latin auris, Lithuanian ausìs, Russian у́хо (úxo), Albanian vesh, Ancient Greek οὖς (oûs), Old Armenian ունկն (unkn), and Persian گوش (gôš)).
NounEdit
ear (plural ears)
- (countable) The organ of hearing, consisting of the pinna, auditory canal, eardrum, malleus, incus, stapes and cochlea.
- (countable) The external part of the organ of hearing, the auricle.
- 1897 December (indicated as 1898), Winston Churchill, chapter IV, in The Celebrity: An Episode, New York, N.Y.: The Macmillan Company; London: Macmillan & Co., Ltd., OCLC 222716698:
- Judge Short had gone to town, and Farrar was off for a three days' cruise up the lake. I was bitterly regretting I had not gone with him when the distant notes of a coach horn reached my ear, and I descried a four-in-hand winding its way up the inn road from the direction of Mohair.
- (countable, slang) A police informant.
- 1976, Stirling Silliphant, Dean Riesner, Gail Morgan Hickman, The Enforcer.
- No I'm not kidding, and if you don't give it to me I'll let it out that you’re an ear.
- 1976, Stirling Silliphant, Dean Riesner, Gail Morgan Hickman, The Enforcer.
- The sense of hearing; the perception of sounds; skill or good taste in listening to music.
- 1849, [Alfred, Lord Tennyson], In Memoriam, London: Edward Moxon, […], published 1850, OCLC 3968433, (please specify |part=prologue or epilogue, or |canto=I to CXXIX):
- songs […] not all ungrateful to thine ear
- a good ear for music
- The privilege of being kindly heard; favour; attention.
- 1625, Francis [Bacon], Apophthegmes New and Old. […], London: […] Hanna Barret, and Richard Whittaker, […], OCLC 771110810:
- Dionysius […] would give no ear to his suit.
- 1599, William Shakespeare, “The Tragedie of Iulius Cæsar”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, OCLC 606515358, [Act III, scene ii]:
- Friends, Romans, countrymen, lend me your ears.
- That which resembles in shape or position the ear of an animal; a prominence or projection on an object, usually for support or attachment; a lug; a handle.
- the ears of a tub, skillet, or dish; The ears of a boat are outside kneepieces near the bow.
- 1886, Peter Christen Asbjørnsen, H.L. Brækstad, transl., Folk and Fairy Tales, page 291:
- When they got as far as the little valley north of Oppenhagen - where the land-slip took place - he thought he sat between the ears of a bucket; but shortly this vanished also, and it was only then he really came to himself again.
- (architecture) An acroterium.
- (architecture) A crossette.
- (journalism) A space to the left or right of a publication's front-page title, used for advertising, weather, etc.
- 2006, Richard Weiner, Charles M. Levine, The Skinny about Best Boys, Dollies, Green Rooms, Leads, and Other Media Lingo (page 26)
- In journalism, ears flank the title as boxes in the left and right top corners of a publication (generally a newspaper).
- 2006, Richard Weiner, Charles M. Levine, The Skinny about Best Boys, Dollies, Green Rooms, Leads, and Other Media Lingo (page 26)
Alternative formsEdit
- ere (obsolete)
DescendantsEdit
- Tok Pisin: ia
Derived termsEdit
- bend somebody's ear
- between the ears
- by ear
- cauliflower ear
- earache
- earbud
- ear canal
- eardrum
- earful
- earhole
- earlobe
- earmark
- earphone
- earpiece
- ear-piercing
- earprint
- earring
- ears are burning
- earshot
- earsore
- ear tag, ear-tag
- ear to the ground
- ear trumpet
- earwax
- earworm
- earworthy
- external ear
- have one's ears lowered
- have one's ears on
- inner ear
- little pitchers have big ears
- make a silk purse of a sow's ear
- middle ear
- mind's ear
- outer ear
- out on one's ear
- surfer's ear
- swimmer's ear
- up on one's ear
- walls have ears
TranslationsEdit
VerbEdit
ear (third-person singular simple present ears, present participle earing, simple past and past participle eared)
- (humorous) To take in with the ears; to hear.
- 1613–1614 (date written), John Fletcher; William Shak[e]speare, The Two Noble Kinsmen: […], London: […] Tho[mas] Cotes, for Iohn Waterson; […], published 1634, OCLC 1170464517, (please specify the page), (please specify the scene number in lowercase Roman numerals):
- I eared her language.
- To hold by the ears.
- 1964, John Hendrix, If I Can Do It Horseback: A Cow-Country Sketchbook, page 40:
- Sometimes, the helper eared the horse down; and sometimes he used a blindfold.
- 2013, Fay E. Ward, The Cowboy at Work:
- The general technique was to rope the horse around the neck, and, while one or two men eared the horse down (held him by the ears), the rider saddled the animal and stepped above him.
See alsoEdit
Etymology 2Edit
From Middle English eere, er, from Old English ēar (Northumbrian dialect æhher), from Proto-West Germanic *ahaʀ, from Proto-Germanic *ahaz (compare West Frisian ier, Dutch aar, German Ähre), from Proto-Indo-European *h₂eḱ- (“sharp”) (compare Latin acus (“needle; husk”), Tocharian B āk (“ear, awn”), Old Church Slavonic ость (ostĭ, “wheat spike, sharp point”). More at edge.
NounEdit
ear (plural ears)
SynonymsEdit
Derived termsEdit
TranslationsEdit
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VerbEdit
ear (third-person singular simple present ears, present participle earing, simple past and past participle eared)
- (intransitive) To put forth ears in growing; to form ears, as grain does.
- This corn ears well.
TranslationsEdit
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Etymology 3Edit
From Middle English eren, from Old English erian, from Proto-West Germanic *arjan, from Proto-Germanic *arjaną, from Proto-Indo-European *h₂erh₃- (“to plough”).
VerbEdit
ear (third-person singular simple present ears, present participle earing, simple past and past participle eared)
- (archaic) To plough.
- 1595 December 9 (first known performance), William Shakespeare, “The life and death of King Richard the Second”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies: Published According to the True Originall Copies (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, OCLC 606515358, (please specify the act number in uppercase Roman numerals, and the scene number in lowercase Roman numerals):
- That power I have, discharge; and let them go
To ear the land that hath some hope to grow,
For I have none.
- 1611, The Holy Bible, […] (King James Version), London: […] Robert Barker, […], OCLC 964384981, Deuteronomy 21:4:
- And the elders of that city shall bring down the heifer unto a rough valley, which is neither eared nor sown, and shall strike off the heifer's neck there in the valley
TranslationsEdit
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AnagramsEdit
LatinEdit
VerbEdit
ear
Middle EnglishEdit
NounEdit
ear
- Alternative form of eere (“ear of grain”)
Old EnglishEdit
PronunciationEdit
Etymology 1Edit
From Proto-Germanic *auraz. Akin to Old Norse aurr (“mud”).
NounEdit
ēar m
DeclensionEdit
Derived termsEdit
Etymology 2Edit
From Proto-West Germanic *ahaʀ, from Proto-Germanic *ahaz, from Proto-Indo-European *h₂eḱ- (“pointed”).
Alternative formsEdit
- æhher – Northumbria
NounEdit
ēar n
- ear (of corn)
DeclensionEdit
DescendantsEdit
ScotsEdit
AdverbEdit
ear (not comparable)
- Alternative form of air (“early”)
ReferencesEdit
- “ear, adv., adj.” in the Dictionary of the Scots Language, Edinburgh: Scottish Language Dictionaries.
Scottish GaelicEdit
NounEdit
ear f
Derived termsEdit
ReferencesEdit
- Edward Dwelly (1911), “ear”, in Faclair Gàidhlig gu Beurla le Dealbhan [The Illustrated Gaelic–English Dictionary], 10th edition, Edinburgh: Birlinn Limited, →ISBN
- “ear” in Am Faclair Beag - Scottish Gaelic Dictionary.
- “ear” in LearnGaelic - Dictionary.
West FrisianEdit
EtymologyEdit
From Old Frisian āre, from the voiced Verner alternant of Proto-Germanic *ausô, from Proto-Indo-European *h₂ṓws.
NounEdit
ear n (plural earen, diminutive earke)
Derived termsEdit
Further readingEdit
- “ear (I)”, in Wurdboek fan de Fryske taal (in Dutch), 2011
YolaEdit
EtymologyEdit
From Middle English er, from Old English ǣr, from Proto-West Germanic *airi.
PrepositionEdit
ear
ReferencesEdit
- Jacob Poole (1867), William Barnes, editor, A Glossary, With some Pieces of Verse, of the old Dialect of the English Colony in the Baronies of Forth and Bargy, County of Wexford, Ireland, London: J. Russell Smith, page 37