flea in one's ear

Definitions

A stinging rebuke or rebuff.

idiomatic

Examples

“If he bothers me again, I'll send⟳ him home with a flea in his ear.”

“Thus spoke the pert hussy and view'd me all round With an eye of disdain and thrice spit⟳ on the ground; Look'd proud of her charms, with an insolent sneer, And sent me away with a flea in my ear.”

“"I came away with two fleas in each ear," Mark⟳ recalled cheerfully, ten years later.”

“As for him getting a flea in his ear, when I had finished with him he did not have⟳ an ear left into which a flea could have⟳ been deposited.”

“For when she got home her Instructress severe / Dismissed her to bed with a Flea in her Ear.”

CEFR level