hear

(hîr)

v. heard (hûrd), hear·ing, hears

v.tr.

1. To perceive (sound) by the ear: Can you hear the signal?

2. To learn by hearing; be told by others: I heard she got married.

a. To listen to (something) attentively or in an official capacity, as in a court: heard the last witness in the afternoon.

b. To listen to and consider favorably: Lord, hear my prayer!

c. To attend or participate in: hear Mass.

v.intr.

1. To be capable of perceiving sound.

2. To receive news or information; learn: I heard about your accident.

3. To consider, permit, or consent to something. Used only in the negative: I won't hear of your going!

Phrasal Verb:

hear from

1. To get a letter, telephone call, or transmitted communication from.

2. To be reprimanded by: If you don't do your homework, you're going to hear from me.

Idioms:

hear, hear

Used to express approval.

never hear the end of

To be complained to or told about (something) repeatedly or for a long time.

[Middle English hearen, Old English hīeran; see kous- in Indo-European roots.]

hear′er n.

American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition. Copyright © 2016 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

ThesaurusAntonymsRelated WordsSynonymsLegend:

Noun

hearer - someone who listens attentively

attender, auditor, listener

audience - a gathering of spectators or listeners at a (usually public) performance; "the audience applauded"; "someone in the audience began to cough"

beholder, observer, perceiver, percipient - a person who becomes aware (of things or events) through the senses

eavesdropper - a secret listener to private conversations

Translations

auditeur

ascoltatore uditore uditrice

hearer

[ˈhɪərəʳ] N → oyente mf

Collins Spanish Dictionary - Complete and Unabridged 8th Edition 2005 © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1971, 1988 © HarperCollins Publishers 1992, 1993, 1996, 1997, 2000, 2003, 2005

hearer

[ˈhɪərə^r] n → auditeur/trice m/f

Collins English/French Electronic Resource. © HarperCollins Publishers 2005

hearer

n → Hörer(in) m(f)

Collins German Dictionary – Complete and Unabridged 7th Edition 2005. © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1980 © HarperCollins Publishers 1991, 1997, 1999, 2004, 2005, 2007

hearer

[ˈhɪərəʳ] n → uditore/trice

Collins Italian Dictionary 1st Edition © HarperCollins Publishers 1995

Mentioned in

References in classic literature

If we confine ourselves to spoken words, a word has two aspects, according as we regard it from the point of view of the speaker or from that of the hearer. From the point of view of the speaker, a single instance of the use of a word consists of a certain set of movements in the throat and mouth, combined with breath.

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The Epic has here an advantage, and one that conduces to grandeur of effect, to diverting the mind of the hearer, and relieving the story with varying episodes.

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Here the curate went on to relate briefly his brother's adventure with Zoraida; to all which the Judge gave such an attentive hearing that he never before had been so much of a hearer. The curate, however, only went so far as to describe how the Frenchmen plundered those who were in the boat, and the poverty and distress in which his comrade and the fair Moor were left, of whom he said he had not been able to learn what became of them, or whether they had reached Spain, or been carried to France by the Frenchmen.

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There is a more eager, inquiring look in her eyes than there was last June, and a smile is hovering about her lips, as if some playful speech were awaiting the right hearer. The hearer was not long in appearing.

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What It thinks, that It utters; and what It utters, that It hears; and It itself is Thinker, Utterer, Hearer, Thought, Word, Audition; it is the One, and yet the All in All.

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He clad his soul in armor by means of happening hilariously in at a mission church where a man composed his sermons of "yous." While they got warm at the stove, he told his hearers just where he calculated they stood with the Lord.

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We can imagine, therefore, that among such folk a settler, of Aeolic origin like Hesiod, who clearly was well acquainted with the Ionian epos, would naturally see that the only outlet for his gifts lay in applying epic poetry to new themes acceptable to his hearers.

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In the present instance he yielded, in many places, to the prejudices of his congregation; and when he had ended, there was not one of his new hearers who did not think the ceremonies less papal and offensive, and more conformant to his or her own notions of devout worship, than they had been led to expect from a service of forms, Richard found in the divine, during the evening, a most powerful co-operator in his religious schemes.

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They can have such an influence for good, if their theology is sound; and it must be thrilling to preach splendid sermons and stir your hearers' hearts.

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He handled his text in all kinds of ways, and twisted it into all manner of shapes; but always ingeniously, and with a rude eloquence, well adapted to the comprehension of his hearers. Indeed if I be not mistaken, he studied their sympathies and understandings much more than the display of his own powers.

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He saw that she had thoroughly arrested her hearers. The villagers had pressed nearer to her, and there was no longer anything but grave attention on all faces.

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Bats can hear a mole walking in his tunnel under the earth --and they think they're good hearers. But we owls can tell you, using only one ear, the color of a kitten from the way it winks in the dark."

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