Language: en
Meaning: (idiomatic,intransitive)Toattend; to beattentive; tofocusone's attention.Pleasepay attentionto the danger signs.1913,Joseph C[rosby] Lincoln, chapter IV, inMr. Pratt’s Patients, New York, N.Y.; London:D[aniel] Appleton and Company,→OCLC:I was on my way to the door, but all at once, through the fog in my head, I began to sight one reef that I hadn'tpaidanyattentionto afore.1950January, David L. Smith, “A Runaway at Beattock”, inRailway Magazine, page54:Just south of Wamphray station they overtook the runaway. The dim figure of Mitchell could be seen sitting huddled behind the stormboard. They shouted and whistled. Hepaidnoattention.1956September, “Notes and News: The Barby Sidings Accident Report”, inRailway Magazine, page638:The guard waspayingnoattentionwhatever to the running of his train, in total disregard of rules, and, as the recently-published report of a Ministry of Transport Inspecting Officer of Railways shows, there were other disquieting features in the case, such as ignorance on the part of responsible men of rules and appendix instructions and a lax attitude to regulations of which they professed to be aware, combined with failure to look at staff notice boards.
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