hear

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See also: Hear

English

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Wikipedia

Alternative forms

Etymology

From Middle English heren, from Old English hīeran (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).

Pronunciation

Verb

hear (third-person singular simple present hears, present participle hearing, simple past and past participle heard)

  1. (intransitive, stative) To perceive sounds through the ear.
    I was deaf, and now I can hear.
  2. (transitive, stative) To perceive (a sound, or something producing a sound) with the ear, to recognize (something) in an auditory way.
    I heard a sound from outside the window.
    • 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:
      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.
  3. (transitive) To exercise this faculty intentionally; to listen to.
    • 1526, [William Tyndale, transl.], The Newe Testamẽt  (Tyndale Bible), [Worms, Germany: Peter Schöffer], →OCLC, John:
      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?
    • 1935, George Goodchild, chapter 3, in Death on the Centre Court:
      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. […]”
  4. (transitive) To listen favourably to; to grant (a request etc.).
    Eventually the king chose to hear her entreaties.
  5. (transitive) To receive information about; to come to learn of.
    • 1667, John Milton, Paradise Lost:
      Adam, soon as he heard / The fatal Trespass don by Eve, amaz'd, / Astonied stood and Blank []
  6. (with from) To be contacted by.
    • 2009, Elsa T. Aguries, The Pearl Within, →ISBN, page 141:
      When I don't hear from you, My days feel long and lonely.
    • 2012, Art Wiederhold, Charles Sutphen, From the Depths of Evil, →ISBN, page 343:
      They're ten hours overdue. Have you heard from any of them since they left Nineveh?
    • 2012, James Meredith, A Mission from God: A Memoir and Challenge for America, →ISBN:
      She left and I never heard from her again.
  7. (transitive, 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. (transitive, informal) To sympathize with; to understand the feelings or opinion of.
    You're tired of all the ads on TV? I hear ya.
  9. (transitive, Greek philosophy) To study under.
    • 1656, Thomas Stanley, The History of Philosophy. The Eighth Part, Containing the Stoick Philosophers, page 15:
      SPHÆRUS was of Bosphorus, he first heard Zeno, then Cleanthes, and having made a sufficient progresse in learning, went to Alexandria to Ptolomy Philopater []
    • 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:
      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).
    • 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:
      Charmadas, never actually Head of School but a prominent Academic who had himself heard Carneades, was prepared to teach Plato’s Gorgias []

Usage notes

Derived terms

Translations

See also

Interjection

hear

  1. you hear me

References

Anagrams

Cimbrian

Alternative forms

Etymology

From Middle High German herre, from Old High German hērro, hēriro, comparative form of hēr (gray-haired, noble, venerable). Cognate with German Herr; see there for more.

Noun

hear m

  1. (Luserna) man, gentleman

References

West Frisian

Pronunciation

Etymology 1

From Old Frisian hār (honorable).

Noun

hear c (plural hearen, diminutive hearke)

  1. lord
  2. (Christianity) the Lord, God
    Wêr de Geast fan de Hear is, der is frijheid.Wherever the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom.
  3. nobleman
  4. gentleman
Derived terms

Further reading

  • hear (I)”, in Wurdboek fan de Fryske taal (in Dutch), 2011

Etymology 2

From Old Frisian here, from Proto-West Germanic *hari.

Noun

hear c (plural hearen)

  1. army
    Yn âlde tiden wie Frjentsjer bilegere fan in machtich hear.In days gone by, Franeker was besieged by a mighty army.
  2. crowd

Further reading

  • hear (II)”, in Wurdboek fan de Fryske taal (in Dutch), 2011