Word.ws English Dictionary

by the ears

by the ears prepositional phrase: in a state of conflict; fighting, scuffling.

Prepositional phrase

  1. In a state of conflict; fighting, scuffling.
    • they heard Cursell confesse what had formerly passed; and that how in the dividing that they had stolne from him, they fell by the ears amongst themselves, that were actors in it […]1630, John Smith, True Travels, Kupperman, published 1988, page 38
    • For, if (ſaid he) you throw among five Yahoos as much Food as would be ſufficient for fifty, they will, inſtead of eating peaceably, fall together by the ears, each ſingle one impatient to have all to itſelf; […]1726 October 28, [Jonathan Swift], “The Author’s Great Love of His Native Country. […]”, in Travels into Several Remote Nations of the World. […] [Gulliver’s Travels], volume II, London: […]...

Words formed from by the ears

Questions about by the ears

What does by the ears mean?
By the ears means in a state of conflict; fighting, scuffling.
What part of speech is by the ears?
By the ears is a prepositional phrase.

Words near by the ears in the dictionary

  1. by the book
  2. by the by
  3. by the bye
  4. by the day
  5. by the dozen
  6. by the ears
  7. by the eye
  8. by the gods
  9. by the Grace of Allah
  10. by the Grace of God
  11. by the holy poker

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: by the ears (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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