Chapter E to Earth of E by Brewer's Phrase & Fable

bottom of the valley adhere to these pieces of flesh, and eagles, when they carry away the flesh to their nests, carry the stones with it." The story of Sindbad in the Valley of Diamonds will occur to the readers of this article (Epiphanius: De duodecim gemmis, etc., p. 30; 1743).
   It is said that without these stones eagles cannot hatch their eggs.

Ear (Anglo-Saxon, eáre.)
   A deaf ear. One that refuses to listen; as if it heard not.
   Bow down Thine ear. Condescend to hear or listen. (Ps. xxxi. 2.)
   By ear. To sing or play by ear means to sing or play without knowledge of musical notes, depending on the ear only.
   Give ear to ... Listen to; give attention to.
   I am all ear. All attention.

"I was all ear,
And took in strains that might create a soul
Under the ribs of death."
Milton: Comus, 574.

   I'll send you off with a flea in your ear. With a cuff or box of the ear. The allusion is to domestic animals, who are sometimes greatly annoyed with these "tiny torments." There seems also to be a pun implied - flea and flee.
    The French equivalent is "Mettre la puce à l'oreille, ' to give one a good jobation.
   In at one ear, and out at the other. Forgotten as soon as heard.
   No ear. A bad ear for musical intonations; "ear- blind" or "sound-blind."
   Dionysius's Ear. A bell-shaped chamber connected by an underground passage with the king's palace. Its object was that the tyrant of Syracuse might over-hear whatever was passing in the prison.

Ear-finger The little finger, which is thrust into the ear if anything tickles it.

Ear-marked Marked so as to be recognised. The allusion is to marking cattle and sheep on the ear, by which they may be readily recognised.

"The increase [of these wild cattle] were duly branded and ear-marked each year." - Nineteenth Century (May, 1893), p. 789.

"The late president [Balmaceda] took on board a large quantity of silver, which had been ear- marked for a particular purpose." - Newspaper paragraph, Sept. 4, 1891.

Ear-shot Within ear-shot. Within hearing. The allusion is palpable.

Ears
   About one's ears. Causing trouble. The allusion is to a house falling on one, or a hornet's nest buzzing about one's head.
   Bring the house about your ears. Set the whole family against you.
    If your ears burn, people say some one is talking of you. This is very old, for Pliny says, "When our ears do glow and tingle, some do talk of us in our absence." Shakespeare, in Much Ado About Nothing (iii. 1), makes Beatrice say, when Ursula and Hero had been talking of her, "What fire is in mine ears?" Sir Thomas Browne ascribes this conceit to the superstition of guardian angels, who touch the right ear if the talk is favourable, and the left if otherwise. This is done to cheer or warn.

"One ear tingles; some there be
That are snarling now at me."
Herrick: Hesperides.

   Little pitchers have large ears. (See Pitchers.)
   Mine ears hast thou bored. Thou hast accepted me as thy bond-slave for life. If a Hebrew servant declined to go free after six years' service, the master was to bring him to the doorpost, and bore his ear through with an awl, in token of his voluntary servitude. (Exod. xxi. 6.)
   Over head and ears (in love, in debt, etc.). Wholly, desperately.

"He is over head and ears in love with the maid. He loves her better than his own life." - Terence in English.

   To give's one's ears [to obtain an object]. To make a considerable sacrifice for the purpose. The allusion is to the ancient practice of cutting off the ears of those who loved their own offensive opinions better than their ears.
   To have itching ears. Loving to hear news or current gossip. (2 Tim. iv. 3.)
   To prick