DAILY UPDATED VOCABULARY WITH PICTURES. Ear.

• ear
• 1

  part of your body

   [countable] 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 (something) in somebody's ear
• Lou whispered something in his ear.
• long-eared/short-eared etc
• a long-eared rabbit
• inner/middle ear (=the parts inside your ear which you use to hear sounds)
• 2

  hearing

   [countable] used to talk about hearing
• to somebody'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 ears

   at prick1 (5)
• 3

  grain

   [countable] the top part of a plant such as wheat that produces grain
• ear of
• an ear of corn
• 4

   smile/grin etc from ear to ear

  to show that you are very happy or pleased by smiling a lot:
• She came out of his office, beaming from ear to ear.
• 5 [singular] the ability to learn music, copy sounds etc
• ear for
• She has no ear for languages at all.
• a good ear for dialogue
• 6

   a sympathetic ear

  used to say that someone listens sympathetically to what someone is saying:
• He's always prepared to lend a sympathetic ear.
• 7

   close/shut your ears to something

  to refuse to listen to bad or unpleasant news:
• You can't just close your ears to their warnings.

• ➔ turn a deaf ear

   at deaf (4)

   ; ➔ fall on deaf ears

   at deaf (5)
• 8

   be all ears

  informal to be very keen to hear what someone is going to tell you:
• As soon as I mentioned money, Karen was all ears.
• 9

   be out on your ear

  informal to 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.
• 10

   be up to your ears in work/debt/problems etc

  to have a lot of work etc
• 11

   have something coming out (of) your ears

  informal to have too much of something:
• We've got pumpkins coming out our ears this time of year.
• 12

   keep your/an ear to the ground

  to make sure that you always know what is happening in a situation
• 13

   keep your ears open

  to 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.
• 14

   go in (at) one ear and out (at) the other

  informal if 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.
• 15

   give somebody a thick ear

  British English informal to hit someone on the ear:
• Behave yourself or I'll give you a thick ear!
• 16

   have somebody's ear

  to be trusted by someone so that they will listen to your advice, opinions etc:
• He claimed to have the ear of several top ministers.
• 17

   play something by ear

  to play music that you have heard without having to read written music

   ➔ play it by ear

   at play1 (11)
• 18

   somebody's ears are burning

  used to say that someone thinks that people are talking about them
• 19

   somebody's ears are flapping

  British English spoken used to say that someone is trying to listen to your private conversation
• ➔ dog-eared

   ➔ bend somebody's ear

   at bend1 (7)

   ➔ send somebody off with a flea in their ear

   at flea (2)

   ➔ make a pig's ear of

   at pig1 (5)

   ➔ wet behind the ears

   at wet1 (7)

Definition from the Longman Dictionary of Contemporary English
Advanced Learner's Dictionary.