Word.ws English Dictionary

bend someone's ear

bend someone's ear verb: to bore; to talk too long, especially to one particular person.

Verb

bend someone's ear (third-person singular simple present bends someone's ear, present participle bending someone's ear, simple past and past participle bent someone's ear)

  1. (idiomatic) To bore; to talk too long, especially to one particular person.
    • Sorry to bend your ear with the whole story, but I think you ought to know.
  2. (idiomatic) To call someone's attention to an important matter.
    • I managed to bend his ear about the current crisis. I hope he will act now.
  3. (reflexive) To put a hand behind one's ear and cup it around so as to hear better.

Forms of bend someone's ear

third-person singular presentbends someone's ear
present participlebending someone's ear
past participlebent someone's ear
pastbent someone's ear

Questions about bend someone's ear

What does bend someone's ear mean?
Bend someone's ear means to bore; to talk too long, especially to one particular person.
What part of speech is bend someone's ear?
Bend someone's ear is a verb.
What is the past tense of bend someone's ear?
The past tense of bend someone's ear is bent someone's ear.

Words near bend someone's ear in the dictionary

  1. bend one's elbow
  2. bend over
  3. bend over backward
  4. bend over backwards
  5. bend sinister
  6. bend someone's ear
  7. bend someone's will
  8. bend the brain
  9. bend the elbow
  10. bend the knee
  11. bend the rules

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: bend someone's ear (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

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Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: en-au-bend someone's ear.ogg.

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