Collocations for ear - noun

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

pointed, pointy
floppy
pierced
torn
Blood from his torn ear was soaking his collar.

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

sensitive
Blackbirds have such sensitive ears that they can hear a worm moving beneath soil three feet away.

human
Dogs can hear things that human ears can't hear.

attentive, open (BrE), receptive, sympathetic
Even if my fears were silly, he always had an open ear.
She did not like the plan, as she made clear every time she found a receptive ear (= sb willing to listen).
She always provided a sympathetic ear for students with problems.

modern
Some of the words used in 18th-century writing sound strange to modern ears.

Western
Chinese music uses a scale that is unfamiliar to Western ears.

plug, stop
He plugged his ears to drown out the music.
At first I stopped my ears to what I did not want to hear.

block, close, cover, shut
The music was so loud I had to cover my ears.

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

cock, prick up
The dog pricked up its ears.

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

flick, twitch
The horse lifted its head and flicked its ears.

nibble, nibble on, nuzzle
She nibbled on his ear.

pierce
I've just had my ears pierced.

clean, clean out, syringe (BrE)
He could hear much better after having his ears cleaned out.

echo in, pound in, ring in
The voices buzzing all around echoed in her ears.
My heart was pounding in my ears.
He went home with the teacher's warning ringing in his ears.

fill, flood
The sound of the blast filled my ears.

assault, greet, hit, meet, strike
A blast of punk rock music assaulted her ears.

reach
If news of the break-in reaches the boss's ears, we're in trouble.

hurt
The music was so loud that it hurt my ears.

hiss in, whisper (sth) in
shout in, yell in
press
He pressed his ear to the door, but heard nothing.

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

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

tell sb sth
She couldn't see, but her ears told her that the guards had arrived.

be alert, listen
He waited in the darkness, his ears alert for the slightest sound.
Her ears listened expectantly.

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

pop
If you swallow as the plane takes off, it stops your ears from popping.

ring
The explosion set my ears ringing.

ache, hurt, pound
redden
Christopher felt his ears reddening.

stick out
He has really big ears that stick out.

canal, drum, lobe
infection, problem
wax (usually earwax)
drops
plug (usually earplug), protector
protection
flap, muffs (usually earmuffs)
She put on her earmuffs and went out into the snow.
a big hat with ear flaps

buds (esp. AmE), phones, piece, set (usually earbuds, earphones, etc.)
I love my portable music player, but I hate earbuds.

tag
Each animal receives an individual ear tag.

piercing
He had three ear piercings.

cuff

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

be all ears
Come on, tell me, I'm all ears (= I want to hear).

beam, grin, smile, etc. from ear to ear
He was beaming from ear to ear.

bend sb's ear (= talk a lot to someone about something)
She bent my ear about it for three days.

can't believe your ears
She actually apologized. I couldn't believe my ears!

catch sb's ear
A small noise caught his ear.

clap, hold, put, etc. your hands over your ears
She put her hands over her ears to block out what he was saying.

(have) a word in sb's ear (esp. BrE)
Have a quiet word in her ear about it before it's too late.

sb's ears are burning (= a person thinks that someone is talking about them)
‘We were talking about you last night.’ ‘I thought my ears were burning.’

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 an ear open, keep your ears open
I'll keep my eyes and ears open for a second-hand bike for you.

lend an ear (= listen to what someone is saying)
He was always willing to lend an ear.

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

go in one ear and out the other
I knew that my words were going in one ear and out the other (= the person wasn't listening to what I was saying).

have sb's ear
This was the woman who had the ear of the President.

talk sb's ear off
I'm sorry for talking your ear off.

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

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

fine, good, keen, sharp
He has a keen ear for dialogue.
His sharp ears had picked up the uncertainty in her voice.

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

have
attune
It takes time to attune your ear to the local accent.

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

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

have a tin ear for sth (esp. AmE)
She has a tin ear for melody (= does not appreciate it).