EAR

Pronunciation (US):

(GB):

IPA (US):

 Dictionary entry overview: What does ear mean? 

• EAR (noun)
  The noun EAR has 5 senses:

1. the sense organ for hearing and equilibrium

2. good hearing

3. the externally visible cartilaginous structure of the external ear

4. attention to what is said

5. fruiting spike of a cereal plant especially corn

  Familiarity information: EAR used as a noun is common.

 Dictionary entry details 

• EAR (noun)

Sense 1

Meaning:

The sense organ for hearing and equilibrium

Classified under:

Nouns denoting body parts

Hypernyms ("ear" is a kind of...):

receptor; sense organ; sensory receptor (an organ having nerve endings (in the skin or viscera or eye or ear or nose or mouth) that respond to stimulation)

Meronyms (parts of "ear"):

vestibule of the ear (the central cavity of the bony labyrinth of the ear)

eardrum; myringa; tympanic membrane; tympanum (the membrane in the ear that vibrates to sound)

organ of hearing (the part of the ear that is responsible for sensations of sound)

fenestra (a small opening covered with membrane (especially one in the bone between the middle and inner ear))

arteria auricularis; auricular artery (artery that supplies blood to the ear)

Holonyms ("ear" is a part of...):

auditory system (the sensory system for hearing)

vestibular apparatus; vestibular system (organs mediating the labyrinthine sense; concerned with equilibrium)

caput; head (the upper part of the human body or the front part of the body in animals; contains the face and brains)

Sense 2

Meaning:

Good hearing

Classified under:

Nouns denoting cognitive processes and contents

Context example:

a good ear for pitch

Hypernyms ("ear" is a kind of...):

audition; auditory modality; auditory sense; hearing; sense of hearing (the ability to hear; the auditory faculty)

Sense 3

Meaning:

The externally visible cartilaginous structure of the external ear

Classified under:

Nouns denoting body parts

Synonyms:

auricle; ear; pinna

Hypernyms ("ear" is a kind of...):

cartilaginous structure (body structure given shape by cartilage)

Meronyms (parts of "ear"):

ear lobe; earlobe (the fleshy pendulous part of the external human ear)

tragus (a small cartilaginous flap in front of the external opening of the ear)

Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "ear"):

cauliflower ear (an auricle deformed by injury; common among boxers)

Holonyms ("ear" is a part of...):

external ear; outer ear (the part of the ear visible externally)

Sense 4

Meaning:

Attention to what is said

Classified under:

Nouns denoting cognitive processes and contents

Context example:

he tried to get her ear

Hypernyms ("ear" is a kind of...):

attending; attention (the process whereby a person concentrates on some features of the environment to the (relative) exclusion of others)

Sense 5

Meaning:

Fruiting spike of a cereal plant especially corn

Classified under:

Nouns denoting plants

Synonyms:

capitulum; ear; spike

Hypernyms ("ear" is a kind of...):

fruit (the ripened reproductive body of a seed plant)

Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "ear"):

mealie (an ear of corn)

Holonyms ("ear" is a part of...):

corn; Indian corn; maize; Zea mays (tall annual cereal grass bearing kernels on large ears: widely cultivated in America in many varieties; the principal cereal in Mexico and Central and South America since pre-Columbian times)

 Context examples 

I shouted; but only the same half-human cry of the fall was borne back to my ears.

(The Memoirs of Sherlock Holmes, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

His roughness frightened her; each roughness of speech was an insult to her ear, each rough phase of his life an insult to her soul.

(Martin Eden, by Jack London)

It will ring in my ears as long as I live.

(The Return of Sherlock Holmes, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

Never mind that, father, said Tom; if my mother will only harness the horse, I will get into his ear and tell him which way to go.

(Fairy Tales, by The Brothers Grimm)

Instantly she was whirling through the air, so swiftly that all she could see or feel was the wind whistling past her ears.

(The Wonderful Wizard of Oz, by L. Frank Baum)

They engineered an antibiotic-containing gel that can be inserted directly inside the ear canal.

(Developing novel ear infection treatments, NIH)

I answered as loud as I could in several languages, and he often laid his ear within two yards of me: but all in vain, for we were wholly unintelligible to each other.

(Gulliver's Travels into several remote nations of the world, by Jonathan Swift)

Nor can I quite close my ears to a small voice of pride which tells me I did not do so badly, all things considered.

(The Sea-Wolf, by Jack London)

I put the forked metal to my ears and listened.

(Dracula, by Bram Stoker)

His forehead was covered by the visor of his fur cap, the flaps of which went over his ears.

(Love of Life and Other Stories, by Jack London)