Collocations for ear - noun

left, right | inner, middle, outer | big, large | long
a rabbit with long floppy ears

pointed/pointy | floppy | torn
Blood from his torn ear was soaking his collar.

sharp
His sharp ears had picked up the uncertainty in her voice.

trained
To the trained ear the calls of these birds sound quite different.

listening
In the silence everyone seemed to be aware of listening ears.

receptive, sympathetic
She did not like the scheme, as she made clear every time she found a receptive ear (= sb willing to listen). | The counsellor provided a sympathetic ear for students with problems.

plug
He plugged his ears with tissue paper to drown out the music.

close, shut, stop
At first I stopped my ears to what I did not want to hear.

strain
I strained my ears to catch the conversation in the other room.

prick up
The dog pricked up its ears.

flatten, lay back, put back
A horse may show annoyance by putting its ears back.

pierce
I''ve just had my ears pierced so I''m going to buy some earrings.

syringe
He could hear much better after having his ears syringed.

echo in, ring in
The voices buzzing all around echoed in her ears. | He went home with the teacher''s warning ringing in his ears.

hiss in, whisper (sth) in | reach
If news of the break-in reaches the boss''s ears, we''re in trouble.

hear sth, pick sth up
When the notes are played so close together the ear hears no space between them.

prick (up), twitch
His ears pricked up when he heard his name mentioned.

be alert
He waited in the darkness, his ears alert for the slightest sound.

strain
She stood outside the room, her ears straining to hear what they were saying.

pop
If you suck a sweet as the plane takes off it stops your ears popping.

ring
The explosion set my ears ringing and even made me jump a bit.

canal, drum, lobe | infection | plug, protector | flap, muffs
She put on her ear muffs and went out into the snow.

wax

in your ~
‘Taxi?’ said a voice in my ear.

beam/grin/smile from ear to ear, can''t believe your ears
She actually apologized. I couldn''t believe my ears!

(drop/have) a word in sb''s ear
Drop a quiet word in her ear about it before it''s too late.

fall on deaf ears
Their complaints about the poor service fell on deaf ears (= were ignored).

for sb''s ears alone
I have a few words for your ears alone.

keep your ears open
I''ll keep my ears open for a second-hand bike for you.

music to sb''s ears
He arrived home hungry, and the noise of saucepans from the kitchen was music to his ears.

turn a deaf ear to sth
The teacher turned a deaf ear to the boy''s swearing (= ignored it).

with half an ear
He listened to her with only half an ear as he watched TV.

fine, good

have

by ~
She usually plays the guitar by ear, rather than reading the music.

~ for
He has a good ear for accents and can usually tell where a speaker comes from.