Skip to main content
Glite Dictionary
to bend your ear

to bend your ear

1 7.9
To talk to someone for a long time in a way that annoys them
  • idiom
  • Informal
translation icon : hablar sin parar
  • And now they all suddenly recognized in her a different type, recognized the garrulous old country woman whom you could not afford to encourage lest she bend your ear all day.

Examples

  • Whenever we meet, he always tries to bend your ear with his travel stories.

  • Can I bend your ear about my plans for the weekend?

  • I don't mean to bend your ear, but I really need to vent about my job.

Synonyms

to yap away
vsto bend your ear
  • Informal
1 8.4

To talk without stopping in an annoying way

is longer and more deliberately persistent rather than nonstop chatter
to talk someone's ear off
vsto bend your ear
  • Informal
7.5

Speak to someone for a very long time in a way that annoys them

is long and may be persistent without being clearly excessive
to talk someone's leg off
vsto bend your ear
  • UK
8.1

Speak with someone for a very long time until they get tired

is long and may be persistent without strong excess
to talk your arm off
vsto bend your ear
  • Informal
8.4

To speak to someone for a very long time until they get tired of listening

is long and may be tiresome without always being excessive
to bend someone's ear
vsto bend your ear
  • Informal
7.9

Talk to someone for a long time about personal things and often annoy them

is more general and persistent rather than limited to personal complaints

Antonyms

to belt up
  • Offensive
9.2

To tell someone to stop talking and be quiet

How Long

to bend your ear
  • Informal
1 7.9
to ramble on
  • Informal
15 6.2
to talk
∞ 1.0
to chat
  • Informal
269 1.0

Surface Forms

bend your ear infinitive
bending your ear present participle
bends your ear third person singular
bent your ear past
bent your ear past participle

Morphology

bend + your + ear

The verb 'bend' combined with 'ear' relies on a metaphor/metonymy: 'ear' stands for attention/listening and 'bend' suggests directing or monopolizing it, so a learner can infer the phrase relates to speaking to someone. However, the specific nuance 'to talk at length or tiresomely' is not fully predictable from the literal parts without prior exposure, making the expression only partially transparent to a B1 learner.

Etymology

Bend your ear likely comes from the image of someone leaning in and talking so long that they seem to bend another person's ear toward them. So, that picture explains why bend your ear means 'to talk to someone for a long time', often in an annoying way.