eavesdrop
Jump to navigation
Jump to search
English
[edit]Etymology
[edit]eaves + drop; the "listening" sense derives from the notion of the listener standing in the area denoted by the physical sense.
Pronunciation
[edit]- (UK) IPA(key): /ˈiːvzˌdɹɒp/
- (US) IPA(key): /ˈivzˌdɹɑp/
Audio (US): (file) Audio (General Australian): (file)
Verb
[edit]eavesdrop (third-person singular simple present eavesdrops, present participle eavesdropping, simple past and past participle eavesdropped)
- (transitive, intransitive) To hear (intentionally) a conversation one is not intended to hear; to listen in.
- I hope nobody was eavesdropping on our conversation last night, since it got so personal.
- (zoology) To listen for another organism's calls, so as to exploit them.
- 1993, David W. Nagorsen, Robert Mark Brigham, Royal British Columbia Museum, Bats of British Columbia, page 109:
- […] Eastern Red Bat will eavesdrop on the sonar calls of other red bats to locate potential insect prey.
- 2014, Ken Yasukawa, Animal Behavior: How and Why Animals Do the Things They Do:
- Frog-biting midges also depend on eavesdropping for reproduction, and one would predict similarly strong selection to evolve auditory adaptations for hearing and localizing calls of their hosts.
Usage notes
[edit]To eavesdrop usually implies the listener is purposefully trying to hear the conversation of others. To overhear is more often accidental.
Hypernyms
[edit]- (hear conversation one is not intended to hear): overhear
Derived terms
[edit]Translations
[edit]to hear a conversation one is not intended to hear
|
See also
[edit]Noun
[edit]eavesdrop (countable and uncountable, plural eavesdrops)
- The dripping of rain from the eaves of a house.
- The space around a house on which such water drips.
- (countable) A concealed aperture through which an occupant of a building can surreptitiously listen to people talking at an entrance to the building.
- (countable) The act of intentionally hearing a conversation not intended to be heard.
- Were you having a little eavesdrop on us last night?
Synonyms
[edit]Translations
[edit]dripping of rain from the eaves of a house
|
space around a house on which such water drips
|
concealed aperture through which an occupant can surreptitiously listen to people
Anagrams
[edit]Categories:
- English compound terms
- English 2-syllable words
- English terms with IPA pronunciation
- English terms with audio links
- English lemmas
- English verbs
- English transitive verbs
- English intransitive verbs
- English terms with usage examples
- en:Zoology
- English terms with quotations
- English nouns
- English uncountable nouns
- English countable nouns