near,
nose,
tooth,
eye
1【part of your body】2【hearing】3【grain】4 smile/grin etc from ear to ear56 a sympathetic ear7 close/shut your ears to something8 be all ears9 be out on your ear10 be up to your ears in work/debt/problems etc11 have something coming out (of) your ears12 keep your/an ear to the ground13 keep your ears open14 go in (at) one ear and out (at) the other15 give somebody a thick ear16 have somebody's ear17 play something by ear18 somebody's ears are burning19 somebody's ears are flapping
[
Sense: 1,2;
Origin:Old English eare]
[
Sense: 3;
Origin:Old English ear]
【PART OF YOUR BODY】[C]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 rabbitinner/middle ear(=the parts inside your ear which you use to hear sounds)
【HEARING】[C]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 earsatprick1 (5)
【GRAIN】[C]the top part of a plant such as wheat that produces grain
ear of an ear of cornsmile/grin etc from ear to earto show that you are very happy or pleased by smiling a lot
She came out of his office, beaming from ear to ear. [singular]the ability to learn music, copy sounds etc
ear for She has no ear for languages at all. a good ear for dialoguea sympathetic earused to say that someone listens sympathetically to what someone is saying
He's always prepared to lend a sympathetic ear .close/shut your ears to sthto refuse to listen to bad or unpleasant news
You can't just close your ears to their warnings.→
turn a deaf earatdeaf,
fall on deaf earsatdeafbe all earsinformalto be very keen to hear what someone is going to tell you
As soon as I mentioned money, Karen was all ears.be out on your earinformalto 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.be up to your ears in work/debt/problems etcto have a lot of work etc
have sth coming out (of) your earsinformalto have too much of something
We've got pumpkins coming out our ears this time of year.keep your/an ear to the groundto make sure that you always know what is happening in a situation
keep your ears opento 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.go in (at) one ear and out (at) the otherinformalif 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.give sb a thick earBrE informal to hit someone on the ear
Behave yourself or I'll give you a thick ear!have sb's earto be trusted by someone so that they will listen to your advice, opinions etc
He claimed to have the ear of several top ministers.play sth by earto play music that you have heard without having to read written music
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play it by earatplay1 (11)
sb's ears are burningused to say that someone thinks that people are talking about them
sb's ears are flappingBrE spoken used to say that someone is trying to listen to your private conversation
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dog-eared→
bend sb's earatbend1 (7)
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send sb off with a flea in their earatflea→
make a pig's ear ofatpig1 (5)
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wet behind the earsatwet1 (7)