lend me your ears
Preserved but no longer current.
Meaning · English
Pay attention to what I am about to say. Friends, Romans, countrymen, lend me your ears; I come to bury Caesar, not to praise him.
Era: ca. 1898 (Victorian)
Sources & notes
Reproduced from Brewer’s Dictionary of Phrase and Fable (1898 edition, public domain; archive.org, retrieved 2026-07-31; OCR text, minor errors possible). Reflects the scholarship and attitudes of its era.
Common questions
What does “lend me your ears” mean?
Pay attention to what I am about to say. Friends, Romans, countrymen, lend me your ears; I come to bury Caesar, not to praise him.
Is “lend me your ears” formal or informal?
No register label has been reviewed yet — treat it as neutral and check the usage notes above.