The ears are the organs on the side of the head that we use to hear things. The plural is ‘ears’.​

ear idioms list

Let’s look at some popular body idioms that contain the body part ‘ear’.

  • all ears
    meaning – ready and eager to listen
    example – I’ve got a proposition for you, when you’re all ears, I’ll begin.
  • ears are burning
    meaning – the feeling when someone is talking about you
    example – I bet your ears were burning earlier, I heard a girl taking about you.
  • fall on deaf ears
    meaning – be ignored by the people you want to listen to you
    example – Her cries for help fell on deaf ears, everyone walked on by.
  • go in one ear and out the other
    meaning – something is heard then forgotten
    example – Teenagers are useless. Anything I tell my two goes in one ear and out the other.
  • keep one’s ear to the ground
    meaning – listen for information or gossip
    example – I’m not sure when the tickets go on sale, I’ll keep my ear to the ground.
  • make a pig’s ear of something
    meaning – make a complete mess of something
    example – My wife always makes a right pig’s ear of the dinner.
  • music to one’s ears
    meaning – hear a piece of information that makes you happy/excited
    example – My attacker has been caught and locked up, it’s music to my ears.
  • not believe one’s ears
    meaning – you don’t believe or are shocked by something you hear
    example – We couldn’t believe our ears when the doctor told us we were expecting triplets.
  • out on one’s ear
    meaning – forced to leave a job or the place where you live
    example – Danny stole from my company so he’s out on his ear.
  • play it by ear
    meaning – don’t follow a plan, deal with things as they happen
    example – I’m not sure who should run with the project, we’ll just play it by ear.
  • up to one’s ears/eyes/eyeballs/neck
    meaning – extremely busy
    example – Josh is up to his neck in boxes. He’s moving tomorrow so he can’t come out.
  • wet behind the ears
    meaning – immature, naive, inexperienced
    example – The new apprentice is a little wet behind the ears, but he’ll be great in a few months.

ear idioms list with pictures

Here’s some real life picture examples.

idiomatic expressions with body parts - ear
ear idioms - all ears
ear idioms - ears are burning
ear idioms - fall on deaf ears
ear idioms - go in one ear and out the other
ear idioms - keep one's ear to the ground
ear idioms - make a pig's ear of
ear idioms - music to one’s ears
ear idioms - not believe one's ears
ear idioms - out on one's ear
ear idioms - play it by ear
ear idioms - up to one's eyes-ears-neck
ear idioms - wet behind the ears

You can download a table of ‘ear’ idioms and expressions below.

If you’ve enjoyed this page, don’t forget to check out some more body idioms by clicking on the links below.