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flea in one's ear. In DICTIOUS you will not only get to know all the dictionary meanings for the word
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English
Pronunciation
Noun
flea in one's ear (plural fleas in one's ear)
- (idiomatic) A stinging rebuke or rebuff.
If he bothers me again, I'll send him home with a flea in his ear.
1810, The Works of the English Poets, from Chaucer to Cowper:Thus spoke the pert hussy and view'd me all round With an eye of disdain and thrice spit on the ground; Look'd proud of her charms, with an insolent sneer, And sent me away with a flea in my ear.
1979, Dervla Murphy, Wheels Within Wheels:"I came away with two fleas in each ear," Mark recalled cheerfully, ten years later.
2010, Don Oslear, Wisden's The Laws Of Cricket, →ISBN:As for him getting a flea in his ear, when I had finished with him he did not have an ear left into which a flea could have been deposited.
2012, Hannah Jane Locker-Lampson, A Selection From the Works of Frederick Locker, →ISBN:For when she got home her Instructress severe / Dismissed her to bed with a Flea in her Ear.