Meanings
nouncloth-ears (plural cloth-ears)
- UKdatedderogatoryinformalA person who cannot hear clearly or who fails to pay attention to what is said.
Origin
The origin of the term is in the wool and cotton mills of Northern England where the noise of the machinery and build-up of cotton dust made it difficult to hear people speaking. The earliest example in print is "I wish you'd listen. Have you got cloth ears?" from Carnival, a novel by Compton Mackenzie (1912).
Full word history & related roots →Cite this entry
APA
cloth-ears. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 3, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/cloth-ears
MLA
“cloth-ears.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/cloth-ears. Accessed November 3, 2026.
Chicago
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “cloth-ears,” accessed November 3, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/cloth-ears.
Source: cloth-ears on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.