lend an ear
In real, traceable use. Part of the curated seed collection; community review is coming.
Meaning · English
Listen to someone sympathetically or attentively.
Where it’s used:
Used
Widespread English
Examples
Seventeen, eighteen, Lend me your ears, then my sneeze on nineteen, and your slap on twenty. '
This is one machine that will quite easily fight its way to the top of the £300 pile; lend it your ears.
British National Corpus sentence via the MAGPIE corpus (CC BY 4.0, retrieved 2026-07-30)
Sources & notes
Listed in Wiktionary’s “English idioms” category (retrieved 2026-07-29); definition pending editorial review. Figurative class: Metaphor (PIE-English corpus, CC BY 4.0, retrieved 2026-07-31).
Common questions
What does “lend an ear” mean?
Listen to someone sympathetically or attentively.
Is “lend an ear” formal or informal?
No register label has been reviewed yet — treat it as neutral and check the usage notes above.