ENGLISH
REFERENCE

play by ear

idiom

To do by guessing, intuition, or trial and error; to react to events as they occur, often with risk of negative outcomes; to improvise.


Anchors to
Related idioms8entries
  1. 01

    bend someone's ear

    To bore; to talk too long, especially to one particular person.

  2. 02

    child's play

    Something particularly easy or simple.

  3. 03

    ear to the ground

    The practice or characteristic of carefully gathering information; a state or mindset of attentiveness.

  4. 04

    ear tunnel

    A round piece of jewelry with a hole in the middle, which fits into a stretched earlobe.

  5. 05

    flea in one's ear

    A stinging rebuke or rebuff.

  6. 06

    give ear

    To listen: to devote one's attention to an auditory event.

  7. 07

    go in one ear and out the other

    To be heard but not attended to, when a person fails to pay attention.

  8. 08

    go play in the traffic

    To go elsewhere and feel free to engage in risky behavior; to get lost.

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