Definitions

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

  • noun An abundant or excessive amount of something heard, such as talk or music.
  • noun Gossip, especially of an intimate or scandalous nature.
  • noun A scolding or reprimand.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • noun informal a reprimand, castigation or telling off
  • noun informal intimate gossip

from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.

  • noun a severe scolding
  • noun an outpouring of gossip

Etymologies

Sorry, no etymologies found.

Support

Help support Wordnik (and make this page ad-free) by adopting the word earful.

Examples

  • Good, maybe an earful from the folks at home will put the stops on this wild spending frenzy that we can't afford.

    Health reform: The playbook for fall 2009

  • FTC gets an earful from the public on DRM, practically all of it anti -

    Boing Boing 2009

  • I was on an Alaskan cruise two years ago and got an earful from a New Jersey woman who'd moved to Hillsboro and was outraged by the airport.

    Uneasy aftermath (Jack Bog's Blog) 2009

  • Its going to be a long, busy Summer for incumbent Blue Dogs back home ... they are going to get an earful from the voters!

    McCain slams Blue Dog Democrats 2009

  • Yeah, I know this is early in the process and hopefully when they go home for their August recess the senators and representatives will get an earful from the majority of people who clearly want something better than what they have right now.

    Private vs. Public 2009

  • A leading newspaper editorial stated that the federal interior minister, Aftab Ahmad Khan Sherpao, during his visit to Beijing, got an earful from the Chinese minister of public security, Zhou Yongkang Zhou, who asked Pakistan for the umpteenth time to protect Chinese nationals working in Pakistan.

    Terrorism Spreading to Whole of Pakistan 2007

  • Our image chief just isn't feeling the love: U.S. goodwill envoy Karen Hughes got a earful from a group of mostly female Indonesian Muslim students on Friday, who expressed anger at the U. S.-led invasion of Iraq and attacked Washington's foreign policies.

    10/21/2005 2005

  • I’ll bet she’s had an earful from the koolaid mixers.

    Think Progress » White House Flip-Flops on Murtha 2005

  • Southeast Asian foreign ministers gave Myanmar's military-run government an "earful" while demanding that it hold free and fair elections - a rare stand by the cautious group often accused of overlooking rights abuses in member nations.

    ASEAN Urges Myanmar To Hold Free Election 2010

  • Foreign ministers gave Nyan Win an "earful" from the opening dinner onwards, ASEAN secretary general Surin Pitsuwan told Asia Times Online on the sidelines of the meeting.

    Asia Times Online 2010

Comments

Log in or sign up to get involved in the conversation. It's quick and easy.