Lend Me Your Ear (Origin)

What Is the Origin of the "Lend Me Your Ears"?

home▸sitemap▸sayings & proverbs ▸lend me your ear

The term "lend me your ears" means to ask for someone's attention politely. Lend Me Your Ear (Origin)

How Do You Say "Lend Me Your Ears"?

Lend Me Your Ear

Voice Selection

The following voices are available on your browser.

Sorry. No voices have loaded. Try a different browser or refreshing the page.

More Examples of Use

Attention, everybody. Lend me ears for a few minutes please. I have an important announcement.
Lend an ear when your a friend is having a tough time. Talking helps.
Lend me 50 dollars, not your ear.

zeugma

"Lend me your ears" is first used in William Shakespeare's tragedy "Julius Caesar," which was performed in 1599. The phrase is spoken by Mark Anthony, a Roman general and Caesar's right-hand man:

Friends, Romans, countrymen, lend me your ears;
I come to bury Caesar, not to praise him.
The evil that men do lives after them;
The good is oft interred with their bones;

From a grammatical perspective, "lend me your ears" is an imperative sentence. The word "lend" brings the politeness to this saying as it carries the connotation that the audience's attention is required only for a brief period. It effectively means "Please listen to me for a minute."