rabbit ears
4
2.1
- noun
- /ˈræbɪt ɪrz/
- Children love to watch the cartoon where the main character is a bunny with big rabbit ears.
Examples
-
If the reception is bad, just jimmy the rabbit ears.
-
Okay, no offense, but I mean, look at this place, the answering machine, the rabbit ears.
-
The rabbit raised its head, showing off its long, sensitive rabbit ears.
-
In the spring, the young rabbit's rabbit ears grew tall and upright as it explored the garden.
How Long
4
2.1
Surface Forms
Morphology
rabbit + ears
The name relies on a visual metaphor: the two extendible rods resemble a rabbit's upright ears, so a learner who knows 'rabbit' and 'ears' can infer an ear‑like shape. However, identifying that the object is specifically a TV antenna and used to receive signals depends on cultural/technological knowledge, so the connection is partly but not fully predictable.
Etymology
Rabbit ears comes from the real long, upright ears of a rabbit that turn to catch faint sounds and so can 'detect danger' from far away. That's why the phrase means the animal's long, sensitive ears.