(ears)
Frequency: The word is one of the 3000 most common words in English.
1.
Your ears are the two parts of your body, one on each side of your head, with which you hear sounds.
He whispered something in her ear...
I'm having my ears pierced.
N-COUNT
2.
If you have an ear for music or language, you are able to hear its sounds accurately and to interpret them or reproduce them well.
Moby certainly has a fine ear for a tune...
An ear for foreign languages is advantageous.
N-SING: with supp, usu N for n
3.
Ear is often used to refer to people's willingness to listen to what someone is saying.
What would cause the masses to give him a far more sympathetic ear?...
They had shut their eyes and ears to everything.
N-COUNT: oft adj N
4.
The ears of a cereal plant such as wheat or barley are the parts at the top of the stem, which contain the seeds or grains.
N-COUNT: usu pl
5.
If someone says that they are all ears, they mean that they are ready and eager to listen. (INFORMAL)
PHRASE: usu v-link PHR
6.
If a request falls on deaf ears or if the person to whom the request is made turns a deaf ear to it, they take no notice of it.
I hope that our appeals will not fall on deaf ears...
He has turned a resolutely deaf ear to American demands for action.
PHRASE: V inflects
7.
If you keep or have your ear to the ground, you make sure that you find out about the things that people are doing or saying.
Jobs in manufacturing are relatively scarce but I keep my ear to the ground.
PHRASE: V inflects
8.
If you lend an ear to someone or their problems, you listen to them carefully and sympathetically.
They are always willing to lend an ear and offer what advice they can.
PHRASE: V inflects
9.
If you say that something goes in one ear and out the other, you mean that someone pays no attention to it, or forgets about it immediately.
That rubbish goes in one ear and out the other.
PHRASE: V inflects
10.
If someone says that you will be out on your ear, they mean that you will be forced to leave a job, an organization or a place suddenly. (INFORMAL)
We never objected. We'd have been out on our ears looking for another job if we had.
PHRASE: N inflects, v-link PHR
11.
If you play by ear or play a piece of music by ear, you play music by relying on your memory rather than by reading printed music.
Neil played, by ear, the music he'd heard his older sister practicing.
PHRASE: V inflects
12.
If you play it by ear, you decide what to say or do in a situation by responding to events rather than by following a plan which you have decided on in advance.
PHRASE: V inflects
13.
If you are up to your ears in something, it is taking up all of your time, attention, or resources.
He was desperate. He was in debt up to his ears.
PHRASE: v-link PHR, oft PHR in n
14.
music to your
ears: see
music
wet behind the ears: see
wet