pin one's ears back
British informal phrase meaning to listen very attentively or carefully, as if physically pinning one's ears back to catch every sound.
Definitions
British informal phrase meaning to listen very attentively or carefully, as if physically pinning one's ears back to catch every sound. The image suggests active, focused listening rather than passive hearing. Used colloquially to encourage someone to pay close attention to what is about to be said.
Comments
(UK, informal) To listen attentively.
Comments
Used in
Have a better definition?
Add your own interpretation of "pin one's ears back".
🇬🇧About British & Irish slang slang
UK and Irish slang — Cockney, Scouse, Geordie, Yorkshire, Glaswegian, Brummie, Welsh, West Country, plus Irish English. Centuries of regional dialects feeding into modern British and Irish street talk.
See all British & Irish slang slang on Slangora.
Tags
Other words near "pin one's ears back" (P)
Browse all slang words starting with P.
Related terms
People also read
Semantically related
- cloth-eared65%
Failing to pay attention.
- hard ears63%
(Caribbean) A refusal to listen or obey.
- hard ears62%
A Caribbean English expression describing a refusal to listen, obey, or take advice — the quality of being willfully deaf to instruction or warning. Used especially of children who won't do as they're told, but also of stubborn adults. 'Hard-ears' carries an implication of deliberate defiance rather than simple mishearing, and it functions as both a noun and an adjective in Caribbean usage.
- ear hustle61%
(US, slang, intransitive) To eavesdrop.