Word.ws English Dictionary

putting a bug in someone's ear

putting a bug in someone's ear is the present participle and gerund of put a bug in someone's ear.

Meaning of put a bug in someone's ear

Verb

put a bug in someone's ear (third-person singular simple present puts a bug in someone's ear, present participle putting a bug in someone's ear, simple past and past participle put a bug in someone's ear)

  1. (idiomatic, informal) To make a small suggestion or give a hint that causes the listener to act.
    • All in all, the preparation of Seuils had put a nasty bug in my ear that was to bear all its fruit only ten years later—if bugs can bear fruit—and not without intermediate phases.2005, Gärard Genette, Essays in Aesthetics, page 13

Questions about putting a bug in someone's ear

What is putting a bug in someone's ear the present participle and gerund of?
Putting a bug in someone's ear is the present participle and gerund of put a bug in someone's ear.

Words near putting a bug in someone's ear in the dictionary

  1. puttin'
  2. putting
  3. putting a band-aid on a bullet wound
  4. putting a block on
  5. putting a brave face on
  6. putting a bug in someone's ear
  7. putting a cork in it
  8. putting a crimp in
  9. putting a damper on
  10. putting a dent in the universe
  11. putting a foot wrong

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: putting a bug in someone's ear (page history and authors); put a bug in 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.

Last updated:

Cite this entry: “putting a bug in someone's ear.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/putting_a_bug_in_someone%27s_ear. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.