Language: en
Meaning: (idiomatic)Aspokenexpressionor asoundwhich ispleasing; specifically, somegood news, orwelcomeinformationorremarks.c.1580(date written), Philippe Sidnei [i.e.,Philip Sidney], “(please specify the folio)”, in [Fulke Greville;Matthew Gwinne;John Florio], editors,The Countesse of Pembrokes Arcadia[The New Arcadia], London:[…][John Windet] forWilliam Ponsonbie, published1590,→OCLC:[…]Sweete Princesse of my life (said he) what Trophees, what Triumph, what Monuments, what Historis may ever make my fame yeeld so sweete aMusicke to my eares,[…]c.1594(date written),William Shakespeare, “The Comedie of Errors”, inMr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies[…](First Folio), London:[…]Isaac Iaggard, andEd[ward]Blount, published1623,→OCLC,[Act II, scene ii],page89, column 1:The time vvas once, vvhen thou vn-vrg'd vvouldſt vovv, / That neuer vvords vveremuſicke to thine eare, / That neuer obiect pleaſing in thine eye, / That neuer touch vvell vvelcome to thy hand, / That neuer meat ſvveet-ſauour'd in thy taſte, / Vnleſſe I ſpake, or look'd, or touch'd, or caru'd to thee.1653,Iz[aak] Wa[lton], chapter I, inThe Compleat Angler or The Contemplative Man’s Recreation. Being a Discourse of Fish and Fishing,[…], London:[…]T. Maxey forRich[ard]Marriot,[…],→OCLC; reprinted asThe Compleat Angler(Homo Ludens; 6), Nieuwkoop, South Holland, Netherlands: Miland Publishers,1969,→ISBN,page25:[T]he hearing of ſuch conjugal faithfulneſs, vvill beMuſick to all chaſte ears[…]1838,[James Fenimore Cooper], chapter IX, inHome as Found.[…], volume II, Philadelphia, Pa.:[Isaac] Lea & Blanchard, successors to[Henry Charles] Carey & Co.,→OCLC,page139:[T]he earnestness and passion with which the young man uttered his feelings, mademusic to her ears:[…]1906,Mark Twain[pseudonym; Samuel Langhorne Clemens], “Was It Heaven? Or Hell?. Chapter II.”, inThe $30,000 Bequest and Other Stories, New York, N.Y.; London:Harper & Brothers,→OCLC,page69:People who had an ax to grind, or people who for any reason wanted to get on the soft side of him, called him The Christian—a phrase whose delicate flattery wasmusic to his ears, and whose capital T was such an enchanting and vivid object to him that he couldseeit when it fell out of a person's mouth even in the dark.1909,E[rnest] W[illiam] Hornung, “An Inaugural Banquet”, inMr. Justice Raffles, 1st American edition, New York, N.Y.:Charles Scribner’s Sons,→OCLC,page 2:And he led the way from the station, stopping once to gloat over the sunset across Trafalgar Square, and again to inhale the tarry scent of the warm wood-paving, which was perfume to his nostrils as the din of its traffic wasmusic to his ears, before we came to one of those political palaces which permit themselves to be included in the list of ordinary clubs.2006October 15, “No Harm Meant, Honest”, inTime[1], New York, N.Y.:Time Warner Publishing,→ISSN,→OCLC, archived fromthe originalon23 November 2010:"We should aim for a lower ambition,"[Richard] Dannattsaid.[…]Not what you might callmusic to his boss's ears.2024May 29, Howard Johnston, “Network News: NIC criticises Government's West Coast 'do nothing' policy”, inRAIL, number1010, page16:This will bemusic to the ears ofcontractors, manufacturers and suppliers, who have long argued that they cannot safeguard jobs if they have to live from year to year.
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