(~s)
Frequency: The word is one of the 3000 most common words in English.
1.
Your ~s are the two parts of your body, one on each side of your head, with which you h~ sounds.
He whispered something in her ~...
I’m having my ~s pierced.
N-COUNT
2.
If you have an ~ for music or language, you are able to h~ its sounds accurately and to interpret them or reproduce them well.
Moby certainly has a fine ~ for a tune...
An ~ for foreign languages is advantageous.
N-SING: with supp, usu N for n
3.
Ear is often used to refer to people’s willingness to listen to what someone is saying.
What would cause the masses to give him a far more sympathetic ~?...
They had shut their eyes and ~s to everything.
N-COUNT: oft adj N
4.
The ~s of a cereal plant such as wheat or barley are the parts at the top of the stem, which contain the seeds or grains.
N-COUNT: usu pl
5.
If someone says that they are all ~s, they mean that they are ready and eager to listen. (INFORMAL)
PHRASE: usu v-link PHR
6.
If a request falls on deaf ~s or if the person to whom the request is made turns a deaf ~ to it, they take no notice of it.
I hope that our appeals will not fall on deaf ~s...
He has turned a resolutely deaf ~ to American demands for action.
PHRASE: V inflects
7.
If you keep or have your ~ to the ground, you make sure that you find out about the things that people are doing or saying.
Jobs in manufacturing are relatively scarce but I keep my ~ to the ground.
PHRASE: V inflects
8.
If you lend an ~ to someone or their problems, you listen to them carefully and sympathetically.
They are always willing to lend an ~ and offer what advice they can.
PHRASE: V inflects
9.
If you say that something goes in one ~ and out the other, you mean that someone pays no attention to it, or forgets about it immediately.
That rubbish goes in one ~ and out the other.
PHRASE: V inflects
10.
If someone says that you will be out on your ~, they mean that you will be forced to leave a job, an organization or a place suddenly. (INFORMAL)
We never objected. We’d have been out on our ~s looking for another job if we had.
PHRASE: N inflects, v-link PHR
11.
If you play by ~ or play a piece of music by ~, you play music by relying on your memory rather than by reading printed music.
Neil played, by ~, the music he’d h~d his older sister practicing.
PHRASE: V inflects
12.
If you play it by ~, you decide what to say or do in a situation by responding to events rather than by following a plan which you have decided on in advance.
PHRASE: V inflects
13.
If you are up to your ~s in something, it is taking up all of your time, attention, or resources.
He was desperate. He was in debt up to his ~s.
PHRASE: v-link PHR, oft PHR in n
14.
music to your ~s: see music
wet behind the ~s: see wet