"ear to the ground" meaning in English

See ear to the ground in All languages combined, or Wiktionary

Noun

Audio: en-au-ear to the ground.ogg Forms: ears to the ground [plural]
Head templates: {{en-noun|ears to the ground}} ear to the ground (plural ears to the ground)
  1. (idiomatic) The practice or characteristic of carefully gathering information; a state or mindset of attentiveness. Tags: idiomatic
    Sense id: en-ear_to_the_ground-en-noun-AwvwdW6H Categories (other): English entries with incorrect language header, Entries with translation boxes, Pages with 1 entry, Pages with entries, Terms with Bulgarian translations, Terms with French translations, Terms with Polish translations, Terms with Russian translations, Terms with Spanish translations Disambiguation of English entries with incorrect language header: 49 51 Disambiguation of Entries with translation boxes: 53 47 Disambiguation of Pages with 1 entry: 53 47 Disambiguation of Pages with entries: 57 43 Disambiguation of Terms with Bulgarian translations: 63 37 Disambiguation of Terms with French translations: 65 35 Disambiguation of Terms with Polish translations: 60 40 Disambiguation of Terms with Russian translations: 64 36 Disambiguation of Terms with Spanish translations: 68 32
  2. (attributively, usually hyphenated) Pursuing the practice or having the characteristic of carefully gathering information; well-informed. Tags: attributive
    Sense id: en-ear_to_the_ground-en-noun-p5tTObAa Categories (other): English entries with incorrect language header, Entries with translation boxes, Pages with 1 entry Disambiguation of English entries with incorrect language header: 49 51 Disambiguation of Entries with translation boxes: 53 47 Disambiguation of Pages with 1 entry: 53 47
The following are not (yet) sense-disambiguated
Related terms: keep a weather eye open Translations (the practice of carefully gathering information): наострям уши (naostrjam uši) (Bulgarian), rester à l'écoute (english: to keep one's ear to the ground) (French), être à l'écoute (French), bycie czujnym [neuter] (Polish), преврати́ться в слух (prevratítʹsja v slux) (Russian), seguir informado de que sucede [verb] (Spanish), estar bien informado [verb] (Spanish), procurar estar informado [verb] (Spanish)
Disambiguation of 'the practice of carefully gathering information': 52 48

Inflected forms

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    {
      "form": "ears to the ground",
      "tags": [
        "plural"
      ]
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          "_dis": "53 47",
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          "_dis": "57 43",
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          "_dis": "65 35",
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          "_dis": "60 40",
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          "_dis": "68 32",
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          "ref": "1903, Charles W. Chesnutt, “The Disfranchisement of the Negro”, in The Negro Problem:",
          "text": "Congress never enacts a measure which is believed to oppose public opinion;—your Congressman keeps his ear to the ground.",
          "type": "quotation"
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          "ref": "1910, William MacLeod Raine, chapter 3, in A Texas Ranger:",
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          "ref": "1990, David Eddings, Sorceress of Darshiva, →ISBN, page 148:",
          "text": "The tavern keeper's an old friend of mine—we was shipmates when we was younger—and he sort of keeps his ear to the ground for me.",
          "type": "quotation"
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          "ref": "2001 May 3, Elaine Shannon, Jessica Reaves, “Who'll Follow Freeh Into the FBI Corner Office?”, in Time:",
          "text": "TIME Justice Department correspondent Elaine Shannon is keeping her ear to the ground as candidates' names start to pop up.",
          "type": "quotation"
        }
      ],
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        "The practice or characteristic of carefully gathering information; a state or mindset of attentiveness."
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      "id": "en-ear_to_the_ground-en-noun-AwvwdW6H",
      "links": [
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        [
          "mindset",
          "mindset"
        ],
        [
          "attentiveness",
          "attentiveness"
        ]
      ],
      "raw_glosses": [
        "(idiomatic) The practice or characteristic of carefully gathering information; a state or mindset of attentiveness."
      ],
      "tags": [
        "idiomatic"
      ]
    },
    {
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        {
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          "ref": "1949 August 29, “Chile: Fast Work”, in Time:",
          "text": "The ear-to-the-ground President knew that all the unrest could not be blamed on Communists.",
          "type": "quotation"
        }
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      "glosses": [
        "Pursuing the practice or having the characteristic of carefully gathering information; well-informed."
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        "(attributively, usually hyphenated) Pursuing the practice or having the characteristic of carefully gathering information; well-informed."
      ],
      "tags": [
        "attributive"
      ]
    }
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  "sounds": [
    {
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  "translations": [
    {
      "_dis1": "52 48",
      "code": "bg",
      "lang": "Bulgarian",
      "lang_code": "bg",
      "roman": "naostrjam uši",
      "sense": "the practice of carefully gathering information",
      "word": "наострям уши"
    },
    {
      "_dis1": "52 48",
      "code": "fr",
      "english": "to keep one's ear to the ground",
      "lang": "French",
      "lang_code": "fr",
      "sense": "the practice of carefully gathering information",
      "translation": "to keep one's ear to the ground",
      "word": "rester à l'écoute"
    },
    {
      "_dis1": "52 48",
      "code": "fr",
      "lang": "French",
      "lang_code": "fr",
      "sense": "the practice of carefully gathering information",
      "word": "être à l'écoute"
    },
    {
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      "code": "pl",
      "lang": "Polish",
      "lang_code": "pl",
      "sense": "the practice of carefully gathering information",
      "tags": [
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      ],
      "word": "bycie czujnym"
    },
    {
      "_dis1": "52 48",
      "code": "ru",
      "lang": "Russian",
      "lang_code": "ru",
      "roman": "prevratítʹsja v slux",
      "sense": "the practice of carefully gathering information",
      "word": "преврати́ться в слух"
    },
    {
      "_dis1": "52 48",
      "code": "es",
      "lang": "Spanish",
      "lang_code": "es",
      "sense": "the practice of carefully gathering information",
      "tags": [
        "verb"
      ],
      "word": "seguir informado de que sucede"
    },
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      "_dis1": "52 48",
      "code": "es",
      "lang": "Spanish",
      "lang_code": "es",
      "sense": "the practice of carefully gathering information",
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    },
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      "code": "es",
      "lang": "Spanish",
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      "sense": "the practice of carefully gathering information",
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      "word": "procurar estar informado"
    }
  ],
  "word": "ear to the ground"
}
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        "(idiomatic) The practice or characteristic of carefully gathering information; a state or mindset of attentiveness."
      ],
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        "idiomatic"
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        "(attributively, usually hyphenated) Pursuing the practice or having the characteristic of carefully gathering information; well-informed."
      ],
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  "translations": [
    {
      "code": "bg",
      "lang": "Bulgarian",
      "lang_code": "bg",
      "roman": "naostrjam uši",
      "sense": "the practice of carefully gathering information",
      "word": "наострям уши"
    },
    {
      "code": "fr",
      "english": "to keep one's ear to the ground",
      "lang": "French",
      "lang_code": "fr",
      "sense": "the practice of carefully gathering information",
      "translation": "to keep one's ear to the ground",
      "word": "rester à l'écoute"
    },
    {
      "code": "fr",
      "lang": "French",
      "lang_code": "fr",
      "sense": "the practice of carefully gathering information",
      "word": "être à l'écoute"
    },
    {
      "code": "pl",
      "lang": "Polish",
      "lang_code": "pl",
      "sense": "the practice of carefully gathering information",
      "tags": [
        "neuter"
      ],
      "word": "bycie czujnym"
    },
    {
      "code": "ru",
      "lang": "Russian",
      "lang_code": "ru",
      "roman": "prevratítʹsja v slux",
      "sense": "the practice of carefully gathering information",
      "word": "преврати́ться в слух"
    },
    {
      "code": "es",
      "lang": "Spanish",
      "lang_code": "es",
      "sense": "the practice of carefully gathering information",
      "tags": [
        "verb"
      ],
      "word": "seguir informado de que sucede"
    },
    {
      "code": "es",
      "lang": "Spanish",
      "lang_code": "es",
      "sense": "the practice of carefully gathering information",
      "tags": [
        "verb"
      ],
      "word": "estar bien informado"
    },
    {
      "code": "es",
      "lang": "Spanish",
      "lang_code": "es",
      "sense": "the practice of carefully gathering information",
      "tags": [
        "verb"
      ],
      "word": "procurar estar informado"
    }
  ],
  "word": "ear to the ground"
}

Download raw JSONL data for ear to the ground meaning in English (4.7kB)


This page is a part of the kaikki.org machine-readable English dictionary. This dictionary is based on structured data extracted on 2026-01-16 from the enwiktionary dump dated 2026-01-01 using wiktextract (d1270d2 and 9905b1f). The data shown on this site has been post-processed and various details (e.g., extra categories) removed, some information disambiguated, and additional data merged from other sources. See the raw data download page for the unprocessed wiktextract data.

If you use this data in academic research, please cite Tatu Ylonen: Wiktextract: Wiktionary as Machine-Readable Structured Data, Proceedings of the 13th Conference on Language Resources and Evaluation (LREC), pp. 1317-1325, Marseille, 20-25 June 2022. Linking to the relevant page(s) under https://kaikki.org would also be greatly appreciated.