earball

[ eer-bawl ]

Phonetic (Standard)IPA

noun

the ear or the faculty of listening (usually used in the plural):
The evening offers a musical program easy on the earballs.
Give your earballs a workout with my podcasts.
an act or instance of listening:
It would be great if you could put an earball on this strange noise my car is making.
I heard little of interest on the album during my brief earball in admittedly poor acoustic conditions.

to listen to, especially in order to check, test, or sample:
Follow the links below to earball some of this month's newly uploaded tunes.
Before I leave the patient’s room, I always eyeball and earball everything.

earball

[ eer-bawl ]

Phonetic (Standard)IPA

in acupressure, a device for stress relief in the form of a small ball placed in the ear to be pressed as needed.
an earplug in the shape of a small round or oval foam ball.

earball

/ ˈɪərˌbɔːl /

(in acupressure) a small ball kept in position in the ear and pressed when needed to relieve stress

Origin of earball¹

First recorded in 1845–50, for an earlier sense; 1995–2000, for the current sense of the verb; ear ¹( def ) + ball ¹( def ), modeled on eyeball ( def )

Origin of earball²

First recorded in 2005–10, for the current sense; ear ¹( def ) + ball ¹( def )

keep one's earballs open, to listen attentively or alertly (often used with for ):
Keep your earballs open for a couple of great interviews coming up next hour.
We’ll keep our earballs open and let you know if we hear anything.
up to one's / the earballs, deeply involved or occupied to full capacity (often used with in or with ):
The company is up to its earballs in debt from overexpansion.
I've been up to my earballs with work this week.

April 24, 2024gallimaufry

[gal-uh-maw-free ]

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Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023

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