music to someone's ears
Language: English
Part of speech: noun
Pronunciation: ipa: /ˈmjuːzɪk tə ˌsʌmwʌnz ˈɪəz/
ipa: /ˈmjuzɪk tə ˌsʌmwʌnz ˈɪɚz/
rhymes: -ɪə(ɹ)z
Etymology: From music (“any interesting or pleasing sounds”).
Senses: examples: text: […] Sweete Princesse of my life (said he) what Trophees, what Triumph, what Monuments, what Historis may ever make my fame yeeld so sweete a Musicke to my eares, […]
ref: 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] for William Ponsonbie, published 1590, →OCLC:
english: The New Arcadia
translation: The New Arcadia
text: The time vvas once, vvhen thou vn-vrg'd vvouldſt vovv, / That neuer vvords vvere muſicke 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.
ref: c. 1594 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Comedie of Errors”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act II, scene ii], page 89, column 1:
text: [T]he hearing of ſuch conjugal faithfulneſs, vvill be Muſick to all chaſte ears […]
ref: 1653, Iz[aak] Wa[lton], chapter I, in The Compleat Angler or The Contemplative Man’s Recreation. Being a Discourse of Fish and Fishing, […], London: […] T. Maxey for Rich[ard] Marriot, […], →OCLC; reprinted as The Compleat Angler (Homo Ludens; 6), Nieuwkoop, South Holland, Netherlands: Miland Publishers, 1969, →ISBN, page 25:
text: [T]he earnestness and passion with which the young man uttered his feelings, made music to her ears: […]
ref: 1838, [James Fenimore Cooper], chapter IX, in Home as Found. […], volume II, Philadelphia, Pa.: [Isaac] Lea & Blanchard, successors to [Henry Charles] Carey & Co., →OCLC, page 139:
text: 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 was music to his ears, and whose capital T was such an enchanting and vivid object to him that he could see it when it fell out of a person's mouth even in the dark.
ref: 1906, Mark Twain [pseudonym; Samuel Langhorne Clemens], “Was It Heaven? Or Hell?. Chapter II.”, in The $30,000 Bequest and Other Stories, New York, N.Y.; London: Harper & Brothers, →OCLC, page 69:
text: 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 was music to his ears, before we came to one of those political palaces which permit themselves to be included in the list of ordinary clubs.
ref: 1909, E[rnest] W[illiam] Hornung, “An Inaugural Banquet”, in Mr. Justice Raffles, 1st American edition, New York, N.Y.: Charles Scribner’s Sons, →OCLC, page 2:
text: "We should aim for a lower ambition," [Richard] Dannatt said. […] Not what you might call music to his boss's ears.
ref: 2006 October 15, “No Harm Meant, Honest”, in Time, New York, N.Y.: Time Warner Publishing, →ISSN, →OCLC, archived from the original on 23 Nov 2010:
text: This will be music to the ears of contractors, manufacturers and suppliers, who have long argued that they cannot safeguard jobs if they have to live from year to year.
ref: 2024 May 29, Howard Johnston, “Network News: NIC criticises Government's West Coast 'do nothing' policy”, in RAIL, number 1010, page 16:
glosses: A spoken expression or a sound which is pleasing; specifically, some good news, or welcome information or remarks.