ears pinned back
- idiom
- Archaic
:
ser reprendido
- After the mistake, the coach had my ears pinned back in front of the whole team.
Examples
-
Whenever she listens to a lecture, she sits there with her ears pinned back, not missing a word.
-
The manager's harsh words left him with his ears pinned back.
-
She had her ears pinned back!
-
Don't you think he had his ears pinned back?
-
After the mistake, the coach had my ears pinned back in front of the whole team.
-
The manager's harsh words left him with his ears pinned back.
-
Whenever she listens to a lecture, she sits there with her ears pinned back, not missing a word.
Synonyms
Angrily tell someone they did something wrong
Antonyms
How Harsh
- Formal
14
8.8
- Archaic
36
7.2
- Formal
33
6.1
55
2.2
∞
1.0
Surface Forms
Morphology
The phrase evokes a clear literal image — ears being 'pinned back' (flattened toward the rear) — so a learner who knows 'ear', 'pin' and 'back' can infer a physical posture and associated states like submission, fear, or alertness. However, mapping that image onto the social meaning 'severely reprimanded' (or the idiomatic nuance of extreme attentiveness) is not fully predictable without exposure, so the expression is only partially compositional.
Etymology
Ears pinned back may come from watching animals like dogs or horses, because when they are hurt or very afraid they hold their ears flat and close to the head and are said to have them pinned back. That image explains why the phrase can mean 'to be scolded' and also sometimes 'to be very alert', since the same flat ears can show fear or intense listening.