Alexander Schmidt, Shakespeare Lexicon and Quotation Dictionary

Ear, subst. 1) the organ of hearing: Tp. I, 2, 37. Tp. I, 2, 37 II, 1, 106. II, 1, 106 II, 1, 106 III, 1, 42. III, 2, 147. IV, 176. IV, 176 Gentl. III, 1, 205. Wiv. II, 3, 66. III, 1, 82. Meas. IV, 1, 56. IV, 3, 109. V, 139. V, 139 542 etc. etc. “you have a quick e.” Gentl. IV, 2, 63. Mids. III, 2, 178. R2 II, 1, 234. Per. IV, 1, 70. “if that his head have e. in music,” Cymb. III, 4, 178; cf. Mids. IV, 1, 31. “every one give e.” LLL IV, 1, 59. V, 2, 286. Tw. V, 308. “give e. to his motions,” Wiv. I, 1, 221. H8 IV, 2, 8. V, 1, 48. Hml. I, 3, 68. Lr. II, 4, 236. Ant. II, 1, 32. “lend thine e.” All's IV, 1, 62. R3 IV, 2, 80. “lend me your --s,” Caes. III, 2, 78. “lend e. to,” Cor. V, 3, 19. “lend favourable e. to our request,” R3 III, 7, 101 (Qq ears). “lend no e. unto my purposes,” H4A I, 3, 217. “give some evening music to her e.” Gentl. IV, 2, 17. Hml. II, 2, 128. “give't me in mine e.” Wint. II, 1, 32. “breathe it in mine e.” Gentl. III, 1, 239. “buzzed into his --s,” R2 II, 1, 26. “hark in thine e.” Tp. I, 2, 318. “in his e. I'll holla 'Mortimer',” H4A I, 3, 222. “rounded in the e.” John II, 566. “to tell you in your e.” Wiv. I, 4, 109. II, 2, 100. Ant. III, 2, 46. “whisper in your lady's e.” LLL V, 2, 436. LLL V, 2, 436 John I, 1, 42. IV, 2, 189. “a word in your e.” Ado IV, 2, 29. V, 1, 144. As III, 5, 59. All's IV, 3, 260. Troil. V, 2, 34. “his plausive words he scattered not in --s, but grafted them,” All's I, 2, 54. “when the blast of war blows in our --s,” H5 III, 1, 5. “our person to arraign in e. and e.” Hml. IV, 5, 94 i. e. by mutual whisperings). “if it should come to the e. of the court,” Wiv. IV, 5, 97. “so I have strewed it in the common e.” Meas. I, 3, 15. “in theirs and in the commons' --s,” Cor. V, 6, 4. “I'll be placed in the e. of all their conference,” Hml. III, 1, 192 (== within hearing). “hath to the public e. professed the contrary,” Meas. IV, 2, 102. “read it to public e.” Ant. III, 4, 5. “know you such a one? but by the e.” All's III, 5, 53 (== by hearsay). “I have no --s to his request,” Ant. III, 12, 20. “fasten your e. on my advisings,” Meas III, 1, 203. “all their other senses stuck in --s,” Wint. IV, 4, 621. “take the --s strangely,” Tp. V, 313. “he hears with --s,” Wiv. I, 1, 150 (Pistol's speech). “what fire is in mine --s,” Ado III, 1, 107 (no allusion to the proverbial saying, that when our ears glow, some people are talking of us, but simply meaning: what fire pervades me by what I have heard!). pitchers have --s, (== we may be overheard): Shr. IV, 4, 52. R3 II, 4, 37.
Taken only as a part of the head: “a box of the e.” Merch. I, 2, 86. H4B I, 2, 218. “a box o' the e.” Meas. II, 1, 189. H5 IV, 7, 133. H5 IV, 7, 133 H6B IV, 7, 91. “a box on the e.” H5 IV, 1, 232. (cf. Box). “I will bite thee by the e. for that jest,” Rom. II, 4, 81. “I come to draw you out by the --s,” H4B II, 4, 314. “sowl the porter of Rome gates by the --s,” Cor. IV, 5, 214. “will you pluck your sword out of his pilcher by the --s,” Rom. III, 1, 84 (In Tw. II, 5, 71 F1 with ears; M. Edd. with cars; Hanmer rightly by the ears). to be by the --s == to scuffle: All's I, 2, 1. Cor. I, 1, 237. “I would fain be about the --s of the English,” H5 III, 7, 91. make haste, lest mine (sword) “be about your --s,” Rom. III, 1, 85. “shall we beat the stones about thine --s,” H6C V, 1, 108. “let them pull all about mine --s,” Cor. III, 2, 1. “he will shake your Rome about your --s,” IV, 6, 99. “I will fetch off my bottle, though I be o'er --s for my labour,” Tp. IV, 214 (i. e. though I should be drowned in the morass). “o'er head and --s a forked one,” Wint. I, 2, 186. “up to the --s in blood,” H4A IV, 1, 117. “love, wherein thou stickest up to the --s,” Rom. I, 4, 43. “go shake your --s,” Tw. II, 3, 134 (i. e. grumble at your pleasure). “turn him off, like to the empty ass, to shake his --s and graze in commons,” Caes. IV, 1, 26.
Figuratively used of inanimate things: “hangeth like a jewel in the e. of caelo,” LLL IV, 2, 5 (Holofernes' speech). “hang a pearl in every cowslip's e.” Mids. II, 1, 15. “my house's --s, I mean my casements,” Merch. II, 5, 34. send the breath of parley into his (the castle's) “ruined --s,” R2 III, 3, 34.
2) the handle; in the phrase: pitchers have --s, which see above.
3) the spike of corn: As III, 5, 102. Hml. III, 4, 64.