Meaning of set by the ears | Babel Free

Definitions

To make (a person or persons) argue; to set quarrelling.

idiomatic, transitive

Examples

“[The patrimony of the King's children] was not to be recovered but by […] a bloody and uncertain war, and setting all Christendom together by the ears.”

“Then she used to carry⟳ tales and stories from one to another, till she had set⟳ the whole neighbourhood together by the ears; […]”

“In England a king hath little more to do than to make⟳ war and give⟳ away places; which in plain terms, is to impoverish the nation and set⟳ it together by the ears.”

“never did any man possess⟳ in so extraordinary a degree the faculty of setting people by the ears, of provoking dissension, and of creating strife.”

“Servia will some day set⟳ Europe by the ears and bring⟳ about a universal war on the Continent, […]”

“Even the best-intentioned minister could set⟳ a parish by the ears, so a single-minded insistence on the elimination of a vice could make⟳ him a figure⟳ of terror rather than an approachable counsellor […].”

CEFR level