by the ears

English

Prepositional phrase

by the ears

1. In a state of conflict; fighting, scuffling.
   • 1630, John Smith, True Travels, Kupperman, published 1988, page 38:

     they heard Cursell confesse what had formerly passed; and that how in the dividing that they had stolne from him, they fell by the ears amongst themselves, that were actors in it […]

   • 1726 October 28, [Jonathan Swift], “The Author’s Great Love of His Native Country. […]”, in Travels into Several Remote Nations of the World. […] [Gulliver’s Travels], volume II, London: […] Benj[amin] Motte, […], →OCLC, part IV (A Voyage to the Houyhnhnms), page 258:

     For, if (ſaid he) you throw among five Yahoos as much Food as would be ſufficient for fifty, they will, inſtead of eating peaceably, fall together by the ears, each ſingle one impatient to have all to itſelf; […]

   • 2001, Salman Rushdie, Fury: A Novel, London: Jonathan Cape, →ISBN, pages 3–4:

     In spite of the recent falls in the value of the Nasdaq index and the value of Amazon stock, the new technology had the city by the ears: the talk was still of start-ups, IPOs, interactivity, the unimaginable future that had just begun to begin.

Derived terms

• set by the ears

 

See also

• have by the ears