ear — English Dictionary

Noun

1. The organ of hearing, consisting of the pinna or auricle, auditory canal, eardrum, malleus, incus, stapes and cochlea.

   Usage

   • Countable

   Examples

   We hear sounds with our ears.

2. The external part of the organ of hearing, the auricle.

   Usage

   • Countable

   Examples

   More examples (1)

   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.

3. A police informant.

   Usage

   • Countable
   • Slang

   Examples

   No I'm not kidding, and if you don't give it to me I'll let it out that you’re an ear.

4. The sense of hearing; the perception of sounds; skill or good taste in listening to music.

   Examples

   a good ear for music

   songs[…]not all ungrateful to thine ear

5. The privilege of being kindly heard; favour; attention.

   Examples

   Dionysius[…]would give no ear to his suit.

   Friends, Romans, countrymen, lend me your ears.

   More examples (1)

   They don’t know if they’re going to have a job in a week or a month. They don’t know if they can pay the rising prices. Instead of the paradise they expected July 1, their total existence is unsure. That some foreigners get beaten—nobody has an ear for that now.

6. 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; a foot-rest or step of a spade or a similar digging tool.

   Examples

   the ears of a tub, skillet, or dish; The ears of a boat are outside kneepieces near the bow.

   More examples (1)

   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.

7. An acroterium.

8. A crossette.

9. A space to the left or right of a publication's front-page title, used for advertising, weather, etc.

   Examples

   In journalism, ears flank the title as boxes in the left and right top corners of a publication (generally a newspaper).

10. A curled ridge in the crust of a loaf of bread where the dough was slashed before going into the oven and expands during baking.

11. The outer panels or flaps (protrusions) of a diaper upon which the fasteners are located, which are fastened around the wearer's waist.

12. A path whose endpoints may coincide but in which otherwise there are no repetitions of vertices or edges.

Verb

1. To take in with the ears; to hear.

   Usage

   • Humorous
   • Transitive

   Examples

   I eared her language.

2. To hold by the ears.

   Usage

   • Transitive

   Examples

   Sometimes, the helper eared the horse down; and sometimes he used a blindfold.

   More examples (1)

   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.

Noun

1. The fruiting body of a grain plant.

   Usage

   • Countable

   Synonyms

   headspike

   Examples

   He is in the fields, harvesting ears of corn.

Verb

1. To put forth ears in growing; to form ears, as grain does.

   Usage

   • Intransitive

   Examples

   This corn ears well.

Verb

1. To plough.

   Usage

   • Archaic

   Examples

   That power I have, discharge; and let them go To ear the land that hath some hope to grow, For I have none.

   More examples (1)

   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

Noun

1. the sense organ for hearing and equilibrium

   Broader terms

   sense organsensory receptorreceptor

2. good hearing

   Broader terms

   hearingauditionauditory sensesense of hearingauditory modality

   Examples

   he had a keen ear

   a good ear for pitch

3. the externally visible cartilaginous structure of the external ear

   Synonyms

   auriclepinna

   Broader terms

   cartilaginous structure

4. attention to what is said

   Broader terms

   attentionattending

   Examples

   he tried to get her ear

5. fruiting spike of a cereal plant especially corn

   Synonyms

   spikecapitulum

   Broader terms

   fruit