flea in one's ear
- idiom
- Archaic
:
sospecha
- After overhearing their conversation, she left with a flea in her ear about what was really happening.
Examples
-
His boss gave him a flea in his ear for coming in late three times this week.
-
The detective’s unusual questions left the suspect with a flea in his ear about the investigation.
-
I had a flea in my ear about his intentions.
-
She mentioned a flea in her ear regarding the project.
-
After overhearing their conversation, she left with a flea in her ear about what was really happening.
-
The detective’s unusual questions left the suspect with a flea in his ear about the investigation.
-
His boss gave him a flea in his ear for coming in late three times this week.
Antonyms
How Troubled
Surface Forms
Morphology
The sense 'a suspicion/unease or a sharp rebuke' cannot be reliably derived from the literal parts 'flea' + 'in' + 'one's' + 'ear'. Although a flea is an irritating pest and 'in one's ear' suggests annoyance, the jump to a reprimand or vague suspicion is idiomatic and not predictable for a B1 learner who simply knows the words. Cross-linguistically this precise image-to-meaning mapping is not transparent, so prior exposure is normally required.
Etymology
Flea in one's ear comes from the image of a tiny, annoying flea jumping into your ear, making you itchy, worried and unable to ignore it. That's why it now means 'a nagging doubt or a sharp rebuke'.