flea in one's ear | Idiomator

Meaning: (idiomatic)A stingingrebukeorrebuff.If he bothers me again, I'll send him home with aflea in his ear.1810,The Works of the English Poets, from Chaucer to Cowper:Thus spoke the pert hussy and view'd me all round With an eye of disdain and thrice spit on the ground; Look'd proud of her charms, with an insolent sneer, And sent me away witha flea in my ear.1979, Dervla Murphy,Wheels Within Wheels:"I came away with twofleas in each ear," Mark recalled cheerfully, ten years later.2010, Don Oslear,Wisden's The Laws Of Cricket,→ISBN:As for him getting aflea in his ear, when I had finished with him he did not have an ear left into which a flea could have been deposited.2012, Hannah Jane Locker-Lampson,A Selection From the Works of Frederick Locker,→ISBN:For when she got home her Instructress severe / Dismissed her to bed with aFlea in her Ear.

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