# ear

Pronunciation: say "EER" US /ɪɹ/, UK /ɪə̯/

## Noun

1. The organ of hearing and balance, especially the outer part on each side of the head.
   - Simple: One of the two parts on the sides of your head that you hear with.
   - _The boxer's left ear was swollen and misshapen after the fight._
   - _He tucked the pencil behind his ear._
2. The faculty of hearing and perception of sound; also a refined skill or good taste in listening to and judging music.
   - Simple: Your power to hear sounds, and also a good sense for hearing and judging music.
   - _Decades of conducting gave her an unerring ear for pitch._
   - _His ears, still sharp at eighty, caught the off-key note at once._
3. The fruiting part of a cereal plant, where the grains develop, as in wheat, barley, or corn.
   - Simple: The part of a grain plant like wheat or corn where the seeds grow.
   - _Each ear of corn held neat rows of yellow kernels._
   - _By late summer the barley ears had turned heavy and golden._
4. A willing, favorable hearing; the attention or favor of someone prepared to listen to you.
   - Simple: Willing attention from someone who is ready to listen to what you have to say.
   - _The young advisor soon gained the king's ear and helped shape royal policy._
   - _Lend me your ear for a moment, because I have something important to say._
5. A projecting part on an object that resembles an animal's ear in shape or position, serving as a lug, handle, or (on a spade) a foot-rest.
   - Simple: A part that sticks out from an object, used to hold it, support it, or push it.
   - _Grip the ear on each side to lift the heavy cauldron safely._
   - _Cast-iron pans often have a small ear opposite the main handle for a second grip._
8. A person who secretly supplies the police with information about criminal activity. *(slang)*
   - Simple: A person who secretly tells the police what criminals are doing.

## Verb

6. To put forth ears while growing; to form the grain-bearing heads, as cereal plants do.
   - Simple: To grow the seed-bearing heads, the way wheat or corn does.
   - _Given enough warmth, the rye will ear within a few weeks._
   - _The crop eared unevenly that year because of the drought._

## Verb

7. To take in a sound with the ears; to hear. *(rare)*
   - Simple: To hear something, or pick up a sound.
9. To plow land; to turn the soil in preparation for sowing. *(archaic)*
   - Simple: To break up and turn over soil to prepare it for planting.

## Other meanings

- (verb) To take hold of something by the ears.
- (noun) A curled ridge in a loaf's crust, formed where the dough was slashed before baking and pushed open as the bread rose in the oven.
- (noun) The boxed space flanking a publication's front-page title, where advertising, weather notices, or short index lines are placed.
- (noun) Either of the outer flaps on a diaper that carry the fasteners and wrap around the wearer's waist.
- (noun) In architecture, a projecting piece or ornament at a corner of a pediment, door case, or window frame.
- (noun) A path whose endpoints may coincide but which otherwise contains no repeated vertices or edges.

## Origin

**Meanings 1–2, 4–5, 7–8** — From Middle English ere, from Old English ēare ("ear"), from Proto-West Germanic *auʀā and Proto-Germanic *ausô. It comes from Proto-Indo-European *h₂ṓws, and is related to Dutch oor, German Ohr, Swedish öra, Latin auris, and Ancient Greek oûs.
**Meanings 3, 6** — From Middle English eere, from Old English ēar, from Proto-West Germanic *ahaʀ and Proto-Germanic *ahaz, from a Proto-Indo-European root *h₂eḱ- ("sharp"). It is related to Dutch aar, German Ähre, and Latin acus ("needle; husk").
**Meaning 9** — Proto-Indo-European *h₂erh₃- ("to plow") developed into Proto-Germanic *arjaną and Proto-West Germanic *arjan, then Old English erian and Middle English eren.

Source: DictionaryAI, https://dictionaryai.com/define/ear (written from Wiktionary data, CC BY-SA 4.0: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/).