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hear

verb, intj — 10 senses

hear

verb

UK /ˈhɪə/ · CA, US /ˈhɪɚ/

Etymology

From Middle English har, heoren, her, here, heren, from Old English hēran, hīeran, hīran, hȳran (“to hear”), from Proto-West Germanic *hauʀijan, from Proto-Germanic *hauzijaną (“to hear”), from Proto-Indo-European *h₂ḱh₂owsyéti (“to be sharp-eared”), from *h₂eḱ- (“sharp”) + *h₂ows- (“ear”) + *-yéti (denominative suffix). Cognates Cognate with North Frisian hear, hiar, hiir, hiire (“to hear”), Saterland Frisian heere, here (“to hear”), West Frisian hearre (“to hear”), Bavarian hearn (“to hear”), Central Franconian hüre (“to hear”), Cimbrian hòrran, höarn (“to hear”), Dutch horen (“to hear”), German and Low German hören (“to hear”), Luxembourgish héieren (“to hear”), Yiddish הערן (hern, “to hear”), Danish and Norwegian Bokmål høre (“to hear”), Elfdalian ära (“to hear”), Faroese hoyra (“to hear”), Icelandic heyra (“to hear”), Norwegian Nynorsk haur, høra, høre, høyra, høyre (“to hear”), Swedish höra (“to hear”), Gothic 𐌷𐌰𐌿𐍃𐌾𐌰𐌽 (hausjan, “to hear”); also Greek ακούγω (akoúgo), ακούω (akoúo, “to hear”), Italiot Greek κούω (koúo, “to hear”), Tocharian B āks- (“to awaken”).

9 senses
  1. 1To perceive sounds through the ear.
  2. 2To perceive (a sound, or something producing a sound)…
  3. 3To exercise this faculty intentionally; to listen to.
  4. 4To listen favourably to; to grant (a request etc.).
  5. 5To receive information about; to come to learn of.
  6. 6To be contacted by.
  7. 7To listen to (a person, case) in a court of law; to try.
  8. 8To sympathize with; to understand the feelings or opinion of.
  9. 9To study under.
1

Stative To perceive sounds through the ear.

  • I was deaf, but now I can hear.
2

Stative To perceive (a sound, or something producing a sound) with the ear, to recognize (something) in an auditory way.

  • I could hear them quarreling upstairs, but didn’t really listen to their argument.
  • Mr. Cooke at once began a tirade against the residents of Asquith for permitting a sandy and generally disgraceful condition of the roads. So roundly did he vituperate the inn management in particular, and with such a loud flow of words, that I trembled lest he should be heard on the veranda.1897 December (indicated as 1898), Winston Churchill, chapter IV, in The Celebrity: An Episode, New York, N.Y.: The Macmillan Company; London: Macmillan & Co., Ltd., →OCLC:
3

To exercise this faculty intentionally; to listen to.

  • Agayne there was dissencion amonge the iewes for these sayinges, and many of them sayd: He hath the devyll, and is madde: why heare ye hym?1526, [William Tyndale, transl.], The Newe Testamẽt […] (Tyndale Bible), [Worms, Germany: Peter Schöffer], →OCLC, John:
  • It had been his intention to go to Wimbledon, but as he himself said: “Why be blooming well frizzled when you can hear all the results over the wireless. And results are all that concern me. […]”1935, George Goodchild, chapter 3, in Death on the Centre Court:
4

To listen favourably to; to grant (a request etc.).

  • Eventually the king chose to hear her entreaties.
5

To receive information about; to come to learn of.

  • Adam, soon as he heard / The fatal Trespass don by Eve, amaz'd, / Astonied stood and Blank […]1667, John Milton, Paradise Lost:
6

To be contacted by.

  • I haven't heard from you in a while; how have you been?
  • When I don't hear from you, My days feel long and lonely.2009, Elsa T. Aguries, The Pearl Within, →ISBN, page 141:
2 more examples
  • They're ten hours overdue. Have you heard from any of them since they left Nineveh?2012, Art Wiederhold, Charles Sutphen, From the Depths of Evil, →ISBN, page 343:
  • She left and I never heard from her again.2012, James Meredith, A Mission from God: A Memoir and Challenge for America, →ISBN:
7

Law To listen to (a person, case) in a court of law; to try.

  • Your case will be heard at the end of the month.
8

Informal To sympathize with; to understand the feelings or opinion of.

  • You're tired of all the ads on TV? I hear ya.
9

Human sciences, Philosophy, Sciences Greek To study under.

  • SPHÆRUS was of Bosphorus, he first heard Zeno, then Cleanthes, and having made a sufficient progresse in learning, went to Alexandria to Ptolomy Philopater […]1656, Thomas Stanley, The History of Philosophy. The Eighth Part, Containing the Stoick Philosophers, page 15:
  • Ammonius, the teacher of both Simplicius and Philoponus, tells us how Julian gave a ruling […] in favor of Maximus, who had heard Iamblichus, and followed him and Porphyry (in An. Pr. 31,15–22).1990, Henry J. Blumenthal, “Themistius: the last Peripatetic commentator on Aristotle?”, in Richard Sorabji, editor, Aristotle Transformed: The Ancient Commentators and Their Influence, 2nd edition, published 2016, →ISBN, pages 130–31:
1 more example
  • Charmadas, never actually Head of School but a prominent Academic who had himself heard Carneades, was prepared to teach Plato’s Gorgias […]2018, “Introduction: The Old Academy to Cicero”, in Harold Tarrant et al., editors, Brill’s Companion to the Reception of Plato in Antiquity, →ISBN, pages 24–25:
Synonyms
hear
Antonyms
mishear, cock a deaf 'un, turn a deaf ear
Derived terms
55 termsanother county heard from, behear, children should be seen and not heard, could hear a pin drop, forehear, hard of hearing, hark, hearability, hearable, hear both sides, hearer, hear from, hear hear, hearie, hearing aid, hear me out, hear of, hear oneself think, hear on the grapevine, hear out, hearsay, hearsome, hear tell, hear the end of it, hear the grass grow, hear the last of, hear things, hear-through, hear through the grapevine, hear voices, hear what I'm saying, hear ye, I can't hear you over the sound of, I hear you say, I've never heard it called that before, last I heard, let's hear it for someone, long time no hear, mishear, now hear this, now I've heard everything, one could hear a pin drop, outhear, overhear, rehear, shot heard round the world, shot heard 'round the world, so quiet one can hear a pin drop, so quiet one could hear a pin drop, so quiet you can hear a pin drop, the last I heard, there are none so deaf as those who will not hear, unhear, you hear me, you hear what I'm saying
Related terms
audible, deaf, listen, ear
Hypernyms
perceive
Hyponyms
behear, eavesdrop, hear on the grapevine, listen, outhear, overhear

hear

intj
Etymology

From Middle English har, heoren, her, here, heren, from Old English hēran, hīeran, hīran, hȳran (“to hear”), from Proto-West Germanic *hauʀijan, from Proto-Germanic *hauzijaną (“to hear”), from Proto-Indo-European *h₂ḱh₂owsyéti (“to be sharp-eared”), from *h₂eḱ- (“sharp”) + *h₂ows- (“ear”) + *-yéti (denominative suffix). Cognates Cognate with North Frisian hear, hiar, hiir, hiire (“to hear”), Saterland Frisian heere, here (“to hear”), West Frisian hearre (“to hear”), Bavarian hearn (“to hear”), Central Franconian hüre (“to hear”), Cimbrian hòrran, höarn (“to hear”), Dutch horen (“to hear”), German and Low German hören (“to hear”), Luxembourgish héieren (“to hear”), Yiddish הערן (hern, “to hear”), Danish and Norwegian Bokmål høre (“to hear”), Elfdalian ära (“to hear”), Faroese hoyra (“to hear”), Icelandic heyra (“to hear”), Norwegian Nynorsk haur, høra, høre, høyra, høyre (“to hear”), Swedish höra (“to hear”), Gothic 𐌷𐌰𐌿𐍃𐌾𐌰𐌽 (hausjan, “to hear”); also Greek ακούγω (akoúgo), ακούω (akoúo, “to hear”), Italiot Greek κούω (koúo, “to hear”), Tocharian B āks- (“to awaken”).

1

you hear me

  • Y'all come back now, hear?1995, HAL Laboratory, EarthBound, Nintendo, Super Nintendo Entertainment System:

Entry derived from the Wiktionary, under licence CC BY-SA 4.0 — list of authors.

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