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hear

From Wiktionary, the free dictionary
See also: Hear

English

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Alternative forms

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Etymology

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    Etymology tree
    Proto-Indo-European *h₂eḱ-
    Proto-Indo-European *h₂ew-
    Proto-Indo-European *-s
    Proto-Indo-European *h₂ṓws
    Proto-Indo-European *-yéti
    Proto-Indo-European *h₂ḱh₂owsyéti
    Proto-Germanic *hauzijaną
    Proto-West Germanic *hauʀijan
    Old English hīeran
    Middle English heren
    English hear

    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).

    Cognates
    Cognate with Saterland Frisian heere (“to hear”), West Frisian hearre (“to hear”), Dutch horen (“to hear”), German hören (“to hear”), Danish and Norwegian Bokmål høre (“to hear”), Norwegian Nynorsk høyra (“to hear”), Icelandic heyra (“to hear”), Ancient Greek ἀκούω (akoúō, “I hear”).

    Pronunciation

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    Verb

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    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. [from 10th c.]
      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. [from 10th c.]
      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. [from 10th c.]
      • 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.). [from 10th c.]
      Eventually the king chose to hear her entreaties.
    5. (transitive) To receive information about; to come to learn of. [from 10th c.]
      • 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. [from 12th c.]
      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

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    Derived terms

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    Translations

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    See also

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    Interjection

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    hear

    1. you hear me

    References

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    Anagrams

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    Cimbrian

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    Alternative forms

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    Etymology

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    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

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    hear m

    1. (Luserna) man, gentleman

    References

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    West Frisian

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    Pronunciation

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    Etymology 1

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    From Old Frisian hār (“honorable”).

    Noun

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    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
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    Further reading

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

    Etymology 2

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

    Noun

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    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

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