hear

en-verb

hear (third-person singular simple present hears, present participle hearing, simple past and past participle heard)

hears (present singular third-person)
hearing (participle present)
heard (participle past)
heard (past)

Etymology tree
Proto-Indo-European *h₂eḱ-
Proto-Indo-European *h₂ew-
Proto-Indo-European *-s
Proto-Indo-European *h₂ṓws
Proto-Indo-European *-yéti
Proto-Indo-European *h₂ḱh₂owsyéti
Proto-Germanic *hauzijaną
Proto-West Germanic *hauʀijan
Old English hīeran
Middle English heren
English hear
From Middle English heren, from Old English hīeran (“to hear”), from Proto-West Germanic *hauʀijan, from Proto-Germanic *hauzijaną (“to hear”), from Proto-Indo-European *h₂ḱh₂owsyéti (“to be sharp-eared”), from *h₂eḱ- (“sharp”) + *h₂ows- (“ear”) + *-yéti (denominative suffix).
Cognates
Cognate with Saterland Frisian heere (“to hear”), West Frisian hearre (“to hear”), Dutch horen (“to hear”), German hören (“to hear”), Danish and Norwegian Bokmål høre (“to hear”), Norwegian Nynorsk høyra (“to hear”), Icelandic heyra (“to hear”), Ancient Greek ἀκούω (akoúō, “I hear”).

inh

there are none so deaf as those who will not hear

I was deaf, and now I can hear.

(intransitive, stative) To perceive sounds through the ear.

I heard a sound from outside the window.

Mr. Cooke at once began a tirade against the residents of Asquith for permitting a sandy and generally disgraceful condition of the roads. So roundly did he vituperate the inn management in particular, and with such a loud flow of words, that I trembled lest he should be heard on the veranda.

1897 December (indicated as 1898), Winston Churchill, chapter IV, in The Celebrity: An Episode, New York, N.Y.: The Macmillan Company; London: Macmillan & Co., Ltd., →OCLC:

(transitive, stative) To perceive (a sound, or something producing a sound) with the ear, to recognize (something) in an auditory way.

Agayne there was dissencion amonge the iewes for these sayinges, and many of them sayd: He hath the devyll, and is madde: why heare ye hym?

1526, [William Tyndale, transl.], The Newe Testamẽt […] (Tyndale Bible), [Worms, Germany: Peter Schöffer], →OCLC, John:

It had been his intention to go to Wimbledon, but as he himself said: “Why be blooming well frizzled when you can hear all the results over the wireless. And results are all that concern me. […]”

1935, George Goodchild, chapter 3, in Death on the Centre Court:

(transitive) To exercise this faculty intentionally; to listen to.

Eventually the king chose to hear her entreaties.

(transitive) To listen favourably to; to grant (a request etc.).

Your case will be heard at the end of the month.

(transitive, law) To listen to (a person, case) in a court of law; to try.


listen

en-verb

listen (third-person singular simple present listens, present participle listening, simple past and past participle listened)

listens (present singular third-person)
listening (participle present)
listened (participle past)
listened (past)

From Middle English listenen, listnen, alteration (due to Middle English listen (“to listen, give heed to”)) of Old English hlysnan (“to listen”),
from Proto-Germanic *hlusnijaną, *hlusnōną (compare Middle High German lüsenen), from Proto-Germanic *hlusēną (compare Old High German hlosēn),
from Proto-Indo-European *ḱlew- (“to hear”).
Compare Ancient Greek κλαίω (klaíō, “I make known, famous”), Welsh clywed (“to hear”), Latin clueō (“I am famous”), Lithuanian klausýti, Old Church Slavonic слушати (slušati, “to hear”), Sanskrit श्रोषति (śróṣati, “an exclamation used in making an offering with fire to the gods or departed spirits”) & Sanskrit श्लोक्य (ślókya, “voice, sound, noisy”)).
Related to loud and German lauschen.

cog

talk to the hand 'cause the face ain't listening

Please listen carefully as I explain.

It was April 22, 1831, and a young man was walking down Whitehall in the direction of Parliament Street.[…]. He halted opposite the Privy Gardens, and, with his face turned skywards, listened until the sound of the Tower guns smote again on the ear and dispelled his doubts.

1906, Stanley J[ohn] Weyman, chapter I, in Chippinge Borough, New York, N.Y.: McClure, Phillips & Co., →OCLC, page 01:

He reined Wrangle to a walk, halted now and then to listen, and then proceeded cautiously with shifting and alert gaze.

1912 January, Zane Grey, chapter 4, in Riders of the Purple Sage […], New York, N.Y., London: Harper & Brothers Publishers, →OCLC:

'But, sir, lyars ye have lystened, and that hath caused grete debate betwyxte you and me.'

1485, Sir Thomas Malory, Le Morte d'Arthur, Book XX:

Lady, vouchsafe to listen what I say.

1591 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The First Part of Henry the Sixt”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act V, scene iii]:

Here laid his Scrip, with wholesome Viands fill'd, / There, listening every Noise, his watchful Dog.

a. 1749 (date written), James Thomson, “Summer”, in The Seasons, London: […] A[ndrew] Millar, and sold by Thomas Cadell, […], published 1768, →OCLC:

I'm listening to what you say / Even though I look the other way / But you could never understand / The feeling of what I'm needing

2007, KT Tunstall (lyrics and music), “Saving My Face”, in Drastic Fantastic:

(intransitive except in archaic usage) To use one's sense of hearing in an intentional way; to make deliberate use of one's ears; to pay attention to or wait for a specific sound.


listen

Give the motor a listen and tell me if it sounds off.

The diss song, “Back to Back,” now has more than 124 million listens, a sign that the streaming can attract a sizable audience for a single track.

2016 March 29, Victor Luckerson, “There's a New Way To Listen To All the Remixes You Want”, in Time:

I hadn't spoken to her in a year, but she could still see my listens on the music platform we both used.

2020, Emily Segal, Mercury Retrograde, New York: Deluge Books, →ISBN:


deaf

en-adj

deaf (comparative deafer, superlative deafest)

deafer (comparative)
deafest (superlative)

From Middle English deef, from Old English dēaf, from Proto-West Germanic *daub, from Proto-Germanic *daubaz, from Proto-Indo-European *dʰewbʰ- (“to whisk, smoke, darken, obscure”). Cognate with Ancient Greek τυφλός (tuphlós, “blind”). See also dumb. Doublet of daff, dof, and dowf.

اَلصُّمّ

unable to hear, used as a substantive: deaf people considered as a group

My brother has been deaf since sustaining injuries in the war.

It's important for TV shows to provide closed captioning for the deaf.

Come on my right hand, for this ear is deaf.

1599 (first performance), William Shakespeare, “The Tragedie of Iulius Cæsar”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act I, scene ii]:

Deaf vvith the noyſe I took my haſty flight.

1665 (first performance), John Dryden, The Indian Emperour, or, The Conquest of Mexico by the Spaniards. […], London: […] J[ohn] M[acock] for H[enry] Herringman […], published 1667, →OCLC, Act I, scene ii, page 6:

Unable to hear, or only partially able to hear.


aural

en-adj

aural (comparative more aural, superlative most aural)

more aural (comparative)
most aural (superlative)

for some speakers, to distinguish from oral; Latinate

The meaning of the songs transcended their subject matter; for me they are an aural history that speaks more clearly than any book ever could, not just about dancing and having sex but about being alive in the late '70s.

1989 December 10, Andrew Miller, “It's That Old Highway I'm Looking For”, in Gay Community News, volume 17, number 22, page 16:

Clark made the album with producer Jack Antonoff, current collaborator of choice for Taylor Swift and Lorde. His involvement didn’t have a huge aural impact – the thrillingly disjointed but melodically gorgeous St Vincent sound remained intact – but his inclination for taking real-life trauma and fashioning it into pop took the album a step beyond Clark’s previous work.

2017 December 22, Rachel Aroesti, “The best albums of 2017, No 1: St Vincent – Masseduction”, in the Guardian:

He was alive to every creak and dunt, the thinness of the walls, as if the tenement block was a kind of aural panopticon that funnelled every sound to the other residents, let everyone eavesdrop on their business.

2022, Liam McIlvanney, The Heretic, page 274:


dunny

dunny (comparative dunnier, superlative dunniest)

dunnier (comparative)
dunniest (superlative)

Probably from dun (“to ring”) + -y (“forming adjectives of lesser degree”).

af

Dunny, somewhat deaf, deafish.

1708, J. Kersey, Dictionary Anglo-Britannicum:

(UK dialect) Somewhat deaf, hard of hearing.


audible

en-adj

audible (comparative more audible, superlative most audible)

more audible (comparative)
most audible (superlative)

Borrowed from Middle French audible, from Late Latin audibilis, from Latin audire (“to hear”).

"Now, look here, Jim Hawkins," he said, in a steady whisper, that was no more than audible […]

1881–1882, Robert Louis Stevenson, Treasure Island, London; Paris: Cassell & Company, published 14 November 1883, →OCLC:


deafness

en-noun

deafness (countable and uncountable, plural deafnesses)

From Middle English deefnesse; equivalent to deaf + -ness.

Paul wet his lips with his tongue, read: “ ‘Think you of I the fact that a deaf person cannot hear. Then, what deafness may we not all possess? What senses do we lack that we cannot see and cannot hear another world all around us? What is there around us that we cannot—’ ”

1965, Frank Herbert, Dune (Science Fiction), New York: Ace Books, →OCLC, page 47:

The condition of being deaf; the lack or loss of the ability to hear.


hearing aid

LL-Q1860 (eng)-Flame, not lame-hearing aid.wav

Sadly, the ever-eager Reverend Judith had not been able to conjure up many worshippers, even though it was Father’s Day. There was just one old dear sitting halfway back, her faulty hearing aid letting off a high-pitched whistle.

2017, David Walliams [pseudonym; David Edward Williams], Bad Dad, London: HarperCollins Children’s Books, →ISBN:

A device used to help the hard of hearing to hear sounds.


hard of hearing

en-adj

hard of hearing (comparative more hard of hearing, superlative most hard of hearing)

more hard of hearing (comparative)
most hard of hearing (superlative)

Coordinate term: hard of seeing

Speak loudly, because Grandpa is somewhat hard of hearing.

(idiomatic) Having difficulty hearing; somewhat deaf.


auditory

Borrowed from Latin audītōrius (“pertaining to a hearer or hearing”), from audiō (“to hear”) + -tōrius (“-tory”, adjectival suffix).

af

Of, or relating to hearing, or to the sense or organs of hearing.


TDD

en-noun

TDD (countable and uncountable, plural TDDs)

(countable, telecommunications) Initialism of telecommunications device for the deaf.


earplug

A piece of protective gear meant to be inserted in the ear canal to protect the wearer's hearing from loud noises or the intrusion of water.


listening

From Middle English listnynge, lustninde, from Old English hlysnende, equivalent to listen + -ing.

He could hear better when he used his listening device.

Of something that is used in order to hear or to improve the ability to hear.

kuulo-

of something that is used in order to hear


listening

From Middle English listnynge, lustnynge, lystenynge, equivalent to listen + -ing.

You can improve your listening well by watching English-language films.

Skill or ability of perceiving spoken language.


inaudible

Dogs can hear this whistle, but for people it is inaudible.

At first his voice was almost inaudible; but soon the spirit mastered the body, and his hollow but distinct tones gained a supernatural strength.

1834, L[etitia] E[lizabeth] L[andon], chapter XXXII, in Francesca Carrara. […], volume III, London: Richard Bentley, […], (successor to Henry Colburn), →OCLC, page 267:

Unable to be heard or not loud enough to be heard.


tinnitus

tinnitus (countable and uncountable, plural tinnituses)

From Latin tinnītus (“a jingling, ringing”).

(otolaryngology, pathology) The experience of auditory sensations, such as a ringing or pulsating sound, occurring in the absence of any external stimulus.


harken

en-verb

harken (third-person singular simple present harkens, present participle harkening, simple past and past participle harkened)

harkens (present singular third-person)
harkening (participle present)
harkened (participle past)
harkened (past)

desctree

Sranan Tongo: arki
Aukan: aliki
>? Saramaccan: háika

Ev'n from the depths of Hell the Damn'd advance, / Th' Infernal Manſions nodding ſeem to dance; / The gaping three-mouth'd Dog forgets to ſnarl, / The Furies harken, and their Snakes uncurl.

1697, Virgil, “The Fourth Book of the Georgics”, in John Dryden, transl., The Works of Virgil: Containing His Pastorals, Georgics, and Æneis. […], London: […] Jacob Tonson, […], →OCLC, page 143, lines 690–693:

How, then, am I mad? Harken! and observe how healthily—how calmly I can tell you the whole story.

1843 January, Edgar A[llan] Poe, “The Tell-Tale Heart”, in J[ames] Russell Lowell, R[obert] Carter, editors, The Pioneer. A Literary and Critical Magazine, volume I, number I, Boston, Mass.: Leland and Whiting, […], →OCLC, page 29, column 1:

[T]he mother who had shaped him if any had toward the man he almost was, [...] whom he had revered and harkened to and loved and lost and grieved: [...]

1942, William Faulkner, “The Bear”, in Go Down, Moses, New York, N.Y.: Random House, →OCLC, section 5, page 326:

(transitive, intransitive, chiefly US) Alternative spelling of hearken: to hear, to listen, to have regard.


hearken

en-verb

hearken (third-person singular simple present hearkens, present participle hearkening, simple past and past participle hearkened)

hearkens (present singular third-person)
hearkening (participle present)
hearkened (participle past)
hearkened (past)
hearken (infinitive)

From Middle English herkenen (“to listen (attentively); to pay attention, take heed”) [and other forms], from Old English hercnian, heorcnian, hyrcnian, from *heorcian (“to hark”) infixed with -n-, from Proto-West Germanic *hauʀijan, from Proto-Germanic *hauzijaną (“to hear”), from Proto-Indo-European *h₂ḱh₂owsyéti (“to be sharp-eared, hear well”), from *h₂eḱ- (“sharp”) + *h₂ṓws (“ear”) + *-yéti (denominative suffix). The spelling of the English word was probably influenced by hear, and can be analysed as hark + -en.

nb...

ercne, erkne, hærcne, hærcnen, hærcnien, harcnien, harken, harkenen, harknen, harkni, harkyn, hearken, heorkenen, hercnen, hercni, hercnie, hercnien, hercnigen, hercnin, hercne, hercnen, herken, herkin, herknen, herkni, heorcnen, heorkni, heorknien, herken, herkene, herkken, herkne, herknen, herkon, herkyn, herrcnenn

der

Thenceforth ſhe paſt into his dreadfull den, / VVhere nought but darkeſome drerineſſe ſhe found, / Ne creature ſaw, but hearkned now and then / Some little whiſpering, and ſoft groaning ſound.

1596, Edmund Spenser, “Book IV, Canto VII”, in The Faerie Queene. […], part II (books IV–VI), London: […] [Richard Field] for William Ponsonby, →OCLC, stanza 33, page 103:

This King of Naples being an Enemy / To me inueterate, hearkens my Brothers ſuit, / Which was, That he in lieu o' th' premiſes, / Of homage, and I know not how much Tribute, / Should preſently extirpate me and mine / Out of the Dukedome, and confer faire Milane / With all the Honors, on my brother: […]

1610–1611 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Tempest”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act I, scene ii], page 3, column 1:

With pleaſure he hearkens the heart-ſoothing chear / Shakes Morpheus and ſlumber away; / While joyful he ſtarts, and with ſpeed doth appear / The foremoſt to welcome the day.

1785, “Hunting Songs and Cantatas”, in The Humming Bird: Or, A Compleat Collection of the Most Esteemed Songs. […], 3rd edition, Canterbury, Kent: Printed and sold by Simmons and Kirkby; London: J[oseph] Johnson, […], →OCLC, number 50, page 17, column 2:

Tho' I cannot speak a word, I shall hearken what ye say, / And be often—often with ye when ye think I'm faraway.

1832 December (indicated as 1833), Alfred Tennyson, “New Year’s Eve”, in Poems, London: Edward Moxon, […], →OCLC, stanza X, page 99:

And now a sweet bird calls its scattered mates, / And gaily hearkens the unburdened heart.

1869 December 18, “A Storm”, in William, Robert Chambers, editors, Chambers’s Journal of Popular Literature, Science, and Art, number 312 (Fourth Series), London, Edinburgh: W. & R. Chambers, →OCLC, page 816, column 2:

Up in the spire / The watcher set high o'er the half-hid town / Hearkens the sound of chiming bells fall down / Below him: […]

1870, William Morris, “January”, in The Earthly Paradise: A Poem, part IV, London: F[rederick] S[tartridge] Ellis, […], →OCLC, page 88:

(transitive, archaic except poetic) To hear (something) with attention; to have regard to (something).

Who ſo hearkeneth vnto me, ſhal not come to confuſion, & they that worke by me, ſhal not offende; [they that make me to be knowen, ſhal haue euerlaſting life.]

1560, [William Whittingham et al., transl.], The Bible and Holy Scriptures Conteyned in the Olde and Newe Testament. […] (the Geneva Bible), Geneva: […] Rouland Hall, →OCLC, Ecclesiasticus XXIIII:25, folio 433, verso:

She hearkens for his hounds and for his horn: / Anon she hears them chant it lustily, / And all in haste she coasteth to the cry.

1593, [William Shakespeare], Venus and Adonis, London: […] Richard Field, […], →OCLC, [verse 145], lines [868–870]; republished as Shakespeare’s Venus & Adonis: […], London: J[oseph] M[alaby] Dent and Co. […], 1896, →OCLC, verse 145, page 51, lines 868–870:

And vnto Adam he [God] ſaid, Becauſe thou hast hearkened vnto the voice of thy wife [Eve], and haſt eaten of the tree, of which I commaunded thee, ſaying, Thou ſhalt not eate of it: curſed is the ground for thy ſake: in ſorow ſhalt thou eate of it all the dayes of thy life.

1611, The Holy Bible, […] (King James Version), London: […] Robert Barker, […], →OCLC, Genesis 3:17, column 1:

Nowe therefore hearken, O Iſrael, vnto the Statutes, and vnto the Judgments which I teach you, for to do them, that ye may liue, and goe in and poſſeſſe the lande, which the Lord God of your fathers giueth you.

1611, The Holy Bible, […] (King James Version), London: […] Robert Barker, […], →OCLC, Deuteronomy 4:1, column 1:

When ſhe [voluptuousness] ſpreadeth her delicacies on the table, when her wine ſparkleth in the cup, when ſhe ſmileth upon thee, and perſuadeth thee to be joyful and happy; then is the hour of danger, and let reaſon ſtand firmly on her guard: for, if thou hearkeneſt unto the words of her adverſary, thou art deceived and betrayed.

1750 November, “Maxims for the Conduct of Life”, in The Universal Magazine of Knowledge and Pleasure: […], volume VII, number XLVIII, London: Published […] by John Hinton, […], →OCLC, page 224, column 1:

If the advice of an old man is, then, worth hearkening to, children, you will quickly, go different ways to your places of shelter and safety.

1827, [James Fenimore Cooper], chapter III, in The Prairie; a Tale. […], volume I, Philadelphia, Pa.: Carey, Lea & Carey […], →OCLC, page 48:

O mother Ida, manyfountained Ida, / Dear mother Ida, hearken ere I die.

1832 December (indicated as 1833), Alfred Tennyson, “Œnone”, in Poems, London: Edward Moxon, […], →OCLC, stanza II, page 52:

Thou who art of all things Lord, / Well I know, in Galilee, / Hearkenedst to Thy mother's word, / Teach me such a child to be.

1844, [Helen Taylor], “Monday”, in The Child’s Book of Homilies. […], London: Edwards and Hughes, […]; Hatchard and Son, […], →OCLC, part II (Homilies for the Week), page 70:

We were not many minutes on the road, though we sometimes stopped to lay hold of each other and hearken. But there was no unusual sound—nothing but the low wash of the ripple and the croaking of the inmates of the wood.

1881–1882, Robert Louis Stevenson, “The Sea Chest”, in Treasure Island, London; Paris: Cassell & Company, published 14 November 1883, →OCLC, part I (The Old Buccaneer), page 29:

[T]he mother who had shaped him if any had toward the man he almost was, […] whom he had revered and harkened to and loved and lost and grieved: […]

You do not, in short, speak in order to encourage others to speak freely but in order to discourage others from disseminating or hearkening to error. You do not seek to enfranchise the community but to bind it to the truths you take to be salutary.

1999, Stanley Fish, “Fraught with Death”, in The Trouble with Principle, Cambridge, Mass., London: Harvard University Press, →ISBN, page 93:

(intransitive) To listen; to attend or give heed to what is uttered; to hear with attention, compliance, or obedience.

слушам

to listen; to attend or give heed to what is uttered


listenable

en-adj

listenable (comparative more listenable, superlative most listenable)

more listenable (comparative)
most listenable (superlative)

Mozart's music was popular because he wrote listenable works.


unhearing

[She] flung herself / Down on the great King's couch, and writhed upon it, / And clench'd her fingers till they bit the palm, / And shriek'd out 'traitor' to the unhearing wall, […]

1859, Alfred Tennyson, “Elaine”, in Idylls of the King, London: Edward Moxon & Co., […], →OCLC, page 179:

Camille said, as if unhearing, "Of course Apollo isn't with us permanently, you know!"

2001, Joyce Carol Oates, Middle Age: A Romance, paperback edition, Fourth Estate, page 272:


listenership

en-noun

listenership (countable and uncountable, plural listenerships)

/ˈlɪsənəʃɪp/

/ˈlɪsənɚʃɪp/

From listener + -ship (suffix denoting a property or state of being).

suffix

Following are the main features found in the talk of three of the six Thanksgiving celebrants. [...] 3. Pacing. (a) faster rate of speech, (b) inter-turn pauses avoided (silence is evidence of lack of rapport), (c) faster turntaking, (d) cooperative overlap and participatory listenership.

1981, Deborah Tannen, “New York Jewish Conversational Style”, in International Journal of the Sociology of Language, volume 30, Berlin: Walter de Gruyter, →DOI, →ISSN, →OCLC, page 137:

Marsha refers to the characteristic which Pam identified, showing verbal agreement, as "a bad habit," claiming that rather than showing good listenership, it often masks not listening ("tune 'em out").

1994, Deborah Tannen, “Gender Differences in Conversational Coherence: Physical Alignment and Topical Cohesion”, in Gender and Discourse, New York, N.Y., Oxford, Oxfordshire: Oxford University Press, →ISBN, page 124:

These categories form a continuum that shows the degree of floor control, i.e. the left end of the continuum indicates that the speaker has little floor control and is more likely to engage in listenership, while the right end of the continuum shows strong influence on floor control (the speaker can dominate the floor, taking away the floor from the previous speaker).

2001, Hiroko Futo, “Turn-taking in Japanese Conversation”, in Laurence Horn, editor, Turn-taking in English and Japanese: Projectability in Grammar, Intonation, and Semantics (Outstanding Dissertations in Linguistics), New York, N.Y., London: Routledge, →ISBN, page 94:

[W]omen tend to provide and expect more listener feedback such as "yeah," "mhm," and "uhuh," so they often get the mistaken impression that men are not listening when they are, while men often mistake women's signs of listenership for signs of agreement, and feel misled when they later learn that the women did not agree.

2012, Deborah Tannen, “Turn-taking and Intercultural Discourse and Communication”, in Christian Bratt Paulston, Scott F[abius] Kiesling, Elizabeth S. Rangel, editors, The Handbook of Intercultural Discourse and Communication (Blackwell Handbooks in Linguistics), Chichester, West Sussex: Wiley-Blackwell, →ISBN, part III (International Discourse Features), page 149:

(linguistics) The act of paying attention to a conversation or speech; listening.


earpiece

LL-Q1860 (eng)-Flame, not lame-earpiece.wav

My glasses won't stay on, as I've broken the left earpiece.

The arm on a pair of glasses that hooks over the ear to hold them in place.


TTY

teletypewriter (originally), or a text display device, as used by the deaf to read voice communication converted to text by a communication assistant device (CA).


TTY

(text messaging, Internet slang) Initialism of talk to you.


audism

From audio + -ism, modelled after racism and sexism. Coined by American academic Tom Humphries in 1975.

coinage

(sociology) Discrimination against deaf people in favor of hearing people.


ear trumpet

The second student is a hard-of-hearing, eighty-year-old man with a long, white beard and a huge ear trumpet.

2012, Joseph DiMona, This Was Burlesque:

A conical device designed to channel sound to the apex, placed in the ear to serve as a hearing aid.


audient

Borrowed from Latin audientem, accusative singular of audiēns (“hearing, listening; attending, paying attention to”) (or directly from audiēns), the present active participle of audiō (“to hear, listen to; to attend, pay attention to”), from Proto-Indo-European *h₂ewis (“clearly, manifestly”) (from *h₂ew- (“to perceive, see”)) + *dʰh₁-ye/o- (“to render”).
The noun may be borrowed from Late Latin audiēns (“catechumen”), from the participle audiēns.

der

The prosochist is that person whom the noun itself designates by means of an audient intonation, an audient indication, or an audient comma, as the paricular individual to whose notice the par-e-theme presents the different objects mntioned, or implied, in the sentence; as, Master, I have brought unto thee my son. (Master.)

1849, James Brown, An English Grammar, in Three Books. […], book II, Philadelphia, Pa.: Published by John T. Lange, […], →OCLC, part II, lesson II, section 2 (The Pronoun Denomination), footnote, page 113:

And, as we sate, we felt the old earth spin, / And all the starry turbulence of worlds / Swing round us in their audient circles, till / If that same golden moon were overhead / Or if beneath our feet, we did not know.

1856, Elizabeth Barrett Browning, “Ninth Book”, in Aurora Leigh, London: Chapman and Hall, […], published 1857, →OCLC, page 398:

Nyarlathotep … the crawling chaos … I am the last … I will tell the audient void …

1920 November, H[oward] P[hillips] Lovecraft, “Nyarlathotep”, in The United Amateur, volume 20, number 2, Spokane, Wash.: Published for the United Amateur Press Association by E. B. Ault, →OCLC, page 19; republished in The Doom that Came to Sarnath, New York, N.Y.: Del Rey Books, Ballantine Books, February 1971 (May 1991 printing), →ISBN, page 57:

aŭskultanta

listening, paying attention — see also attentive


deafie

Coordinate term: blindie

(endearing or derogatory, slang) A deaf person.


deaf as a doorpost

And grandmother sat in her rocker before the fireplace, deaf as a doorpost and half-blind as well.

2003, David Farland, The Lair of Bones, Macmillan, page 203:

(simile) Stone deaf. (unable to hear at all)


hearie

Etymology tree
Proto-Indo-European *h₂eḱ-
Proto-Indo-European *h₂ew-
Proto-Indo-European *-s
Proto-Indo-European *h₂ṓws
Proto-Indo-European *-yéti
Proto-Indo-European *h₂ḱh₂owsyéti
Proto-Germanic *hauzijaną
Proto-West Germanic *hauʀijan
Old English hīeran
Middle English heren
English hear
Proto-Indo-European *-kos
Proto-Germanic *-gaz
Proto-West Germanic *-g
Old English -iġ
Middle English -y
English -y
English -ie
English hearie
From hear + -ie.


mind's ear

en-noun

mind's ear (plural mind's ears or minds' ears or (less common) minds' ear)

mind's ears (plural)
minds' ears (plural)
minds' ear (plural uncommon)

From mind (noun) + -’s (possessive marker) + ear, probably modelled after mind’s eye.

compound

The thinking Sculpture helps to raiſe / Deep thoughts, the Genii of the place: / To the minds ear, and invvard ſight, / There ſilence ſpeaks, and ſhade gives light: […]

1732 (date written), Peter Drake [pseudonym; Matthew Green], The Grotto, a Poem. […], London: [s.n.], published 1733, →OCLC, page 5:

But, enough of this ſubject; for your angry voice at Aſhbourne upon it, ſtill ſounds avveful 'in my mind's ears.'

1778 February 28 (date written), James Boswell, The Life of Samuel Johnson, LL.D. […], volume II, London: […] Henry Baldwin, for Charles Dilly, […], published 1791, →OCLC, page 185:

"I must read Shakspeare [i.e., William Shakespeare]?" / "You must have his spirit before you; you must hear his voice with your mind's ear; you must take some of his soul into yours."

1849, Currer Bell [pseudonym; Charlotte Brontë], “Coriolanus”, in Shirley. A Tale. […], volume I, London: Smith, Elder and Co., […], →OCLC, page 125:

[K]eep our thoughts from wandering, open our minds' ears to hear, open our mouths to sing thy praises, let us not trifle in thy house, but ever remember "thou God seest me."

[1850], T[homas] Major Lester, “Morning”, in Prayers and Hymns for the Use of Sunday Schools, London: Wertheim, Macintosh, & Hunt, […], →OCLC, page 3:

Even now I have in my mind's ears the merry gibe of some young rogue of a reader, […]

1850 March, “My Aunt Nelly’s Portfolio”, in The Churchman’s Companion, volume VII, part XXXIX, London: Joseph Masters, […], →OCLC:

The likeness of the great bass horn remained upon the retina of his mind's eye, losing nothing of its brazen enormity with the passing of hours, nor abating, in his mind's ear, one whit of its fascinating blatancy.

1916, Booth Tarkington, “Yearnings”, in Penrod and Sam, Garden City, N.Y.: Doubleday, Page & Company, →OCLC, page 293:

Perhaps we may hear in our minds' ears echoes of the sacred duets of Orlando di Lasso, [Claudio] Monteverdi, [Edward] Gibbons, and [William] Lawes, sung in exquisitely responsive improvised harmony to words immediately inspired in them both.

1993, Diane Kelsey McColley, “The Arts of Eden”, in A Gust for Paradise: Milton’s Eden and the Visual Arts, Urbana; Chicago, Ill.: University of Illinois Press, →ISBN, page 142:

There is harmony in the scene; harmony between heaven and earth; harmony in the sounds that the artist allows us to hear within our minds' ear, issuing from the double rank of pipes, sounding to an angel's touch.

1994, Thomas Levenson, “A Perfect Order”, in Measure for Measure: A Musical History of Science, New York, N.Y.: Touchstone, Simon & Schuster, →ISBN, part 1 (By Design), page 20:

Other people do "Don't Smoke in Bed" and "I've Got Your Number" and "You Came a Long Way From St. Louis," but when I hear them in my mind's ear, hers [Peggy Lee's] is the voice I hear.

2002 January 27, Terry Teachout, “A master and mentor in song”, in The New York Times, New York, N.Y.: The New York Times Company, →ISSN, →OCLC, archived from the original on 2021-01-07:

I used to be a schoolteacher, teaching children roughly between the ages of ten and thirteen, and I noticed that when they wrote stories, many of them were much better at dialogue than at narrative. […] What they could do very well was put down the things they were hearing in their minds' ear, because those things already had words.

2007, Philip Pullman, “The Writing of Stories: Making It Up and Writing It Down”, in Simon Mason, editor, Dæmon Voices: Essays on Storytelling, Oxford, Oxfordshire: David Fickling Books, →ISBN, page 42:

What's more, it is to assume that we are not, in general, capable of telling whether we are actually looking at a painting or merely imagining one, or actually hearing a string quartet as opposed to listening to our own mind's ears.

2009, David Berger, “The Beautiful and the Agreeable”, in Kant’s Aesthetic Theory: The Beautiful and Agreeable (Continuum Studies in Philosophy), London: Continuum International Publishing Group, →ISBN, page 63:

Examine as many transcriptions as you can find and compare them to the original Gesellschaft score—you will see the vast range of harmonies transcribers have heard in their minds' ear over the years!

2017, Harry George Pellegrin, Classic Guitar Method, 5th edition, Scotia, N.Y.: PAB Entertainment Group, →ISBN, page 264:

"Albers" is musically ambiguous. In its basic form, it isn't unequivocally in C major, but in our minds' ears we tend to make it be in C major.

2023, Pedro de Alcantara, “Sonic Play”, in Creative Health for Pianists: Concepts, Exercises & Compositions, New York, N.Y.: Oxford University Press, →DOI, →ISBN, page 274:

(idiomatic) The mental faculty or inner sense with which one produces or reproduces imagined or recalled sounds solely within the mind; the supposed organ within the mind which experiences such sounds.

anauralia

absence of auditory imagery, particularly the lack of an ‘inner voice’


anacusic

Only vibrotactile responses could be obtained in 59 ears in the presence of effusion, while only 8 ears in an effusion-free condition were classified as anacusic.

1997, Ted L. Tewfik, Vazken M. Der Kaloustian, Congenital Anomalies of the Ear, Nose, and Throat, page 99:

In the anacusic ear, eustachian tube obliteration, using muscle, bone, or foreign materials, may be indicated.

2003, Michael E. Glasscock, Aina J. Gulya, Glasscock-Shambaugh Surgery of the Ear, →ISBN, page 449:

Hearing loss may be conductive, sensorineural, or mixed, and the degree of loss may be mild, moderate, severe, profound, or total (anacusic).

2006, Meyer Michael Cohen, Perspectives on the Face, →ISBN, page 89:


outhear

en-verb

outhear (third-person singular simple present outhears, present participle outhearing, simple past and past participle outheard)

outhears (present singular third-person)
outhearing (participle present)
outheard (participle past)
outheard (past)

Dogs can outhear human beings.


prick up

prick up (third-person singular simple present pricks up, present participle pricking up, simple past and past participle pricked up)

pricks up (present singular third-person)
pricking up (participle present)
pricked up (participle past)
pricked up (past)

(intransitive, of ears) To rise and become more alert.

Either the rubble-wall builder, be he bricklayer or mason, must acquire much of the skill of the plasterer, or the plasterer must learn to pack up brick or stone rubble into the form of a wall, and to give more effect to the mortar with which he plasters, than when he pricks up against a lathed partition or ceiling, or renders the face of a brick wall;

If a lime plaster finish is required for covering lath work, it will be necessary to prick up the first coat with 3 parts of sand to 1 of lime, and to every 3 cubic feet of the mixture 1 lb. of well-beaten hair is added.

2015, W Verrall, The Modern Plasterer, →ISBN, page 322:

If the walls are rough or uneven, they should be first pricked up, and then floated.

2016, William Millar, Plastering: Plain and Decorative, →ISBN, page 218:

(plastering) To apply an undercoat of plaster in order to create a smooth surface for the final coat.


dysaudia

en-noun

dysaudia (usually uncountable, plural dysaudias)

defective articulation stemming from auditory disability


cophosis

From New Latin cōphōsis, from Ancient Greek κώφωσις (kṓphōsis).


deaf person

deaf person (plural deaf persons or deaf people)

deaf persons (plural)
deaf people (plural)


nosocusis

Hearing loss caused by factors other than noise or pure presbycusis, such as drug use or hypertension.


SKSK

Reduplication of SK (literally “stop keying”).

reduplication

(TTY/TDD) Used to indicate the end of a conversation and that one is hanging up and/or the other person should.


hearably

On high sat the President imploring order, with his long hands put together as in prayer, and his lips visibly but not hearably speaking. At intervals he grasped his bell and swung it up and down with vigor, adding its keen clamor to the storm weltering there below.

1898 March 24, Mark Twain [pseudonym; Samuel Langhorne Clemens], “Stirring Times in Austria”, in Harper's New Monthly Magazine, volume XCVI, number DLXXIV, New York: Harper and Brothers, page 534:

By contrast, in (50), a hearably complete answer to a question that could have been referring to a similar information gap is continuation-receipted.

1984, John Heritage, “A change-of-state token and aspects of its sequential placement”, in J. Maxwell Atkinson, John Heritage, editors, Structures of Social Action, New York: Cambridge University Press:

Case studies of three problematic NNS/NS calls from a collection of emergency service calls were conducted using a conversation analytic approach. These calls were selected from publicly available recordings which were made by callers who were hearably NNS of English.

2022 April 18, Angela Cora Garcia, “Interactional challenges for non-native speakers of English in emergency telephone calls”, in Journal of Pragmatics, volume 193, Elsevier, →DOI, pages 222–234:

(formal, especially sociology or sociolinguistics) Audibly, auditorily; discernable through hearing.


precedence effect

en-noun

precedence effect (plural precedence effects)

(acoustics) A binaural psychoacoustical effect concerning sound reflection and the perception of echoes.


objective tinnitus

A ringing sound in the ear that is produced by physical phenomena in the inner ear and can be detected using a stethoscope.