earie

From ear +‎ -ie.

earie (plural earies)

1. (colloquial or childish, rare) Diminutive of ear.
   • 1870 February, Jean Pry [pseudonym], “Jonathan Ferret: A Journalistic Seance”, in Leisure Hours […], volume III, number V, Pittsburgh, Pa.; Philadelphia, Pa.: […] O’Dwyer & Co., […], →OCLC, page 173:

     I could not sit down and write twenty pages describing the appalling, heart-breaking grief of Araminta Susan St. Clair, for the eternal absence of her Fitz-James Eustace Simmons, who has departed this morning not to return till evening; nor twenty tearful stanzas on the death of / “My darling little dearie, / With curling little earie, / With little eye so cheery, / And with limbs ne’er a-weary, / A trotting after me!” / [‘]vich vas a tog!’ as [Joseph] Jefferson said in Rip Van Winkle. No! such things are far beyond my talent. I wil leave novel-writing to women and ministers of the gospel.

     Claimed to be a translation from French.

   • 1900 November 2, J. Service (Enngonia, N.S.W.), “Poets’ Corner. Song—Leenie.”, in Irvine Herald and Ayrshire Advertiser, 30th year, number 1535, Irvine, Ayrshire, →OCLC, page 2, column 1:

     Her cunning little earie / Can almost seem to hear ye / Thinking, when she’s near ye,- / Out at Enn-goni-a!

   • 2009 [1896], Alfred Jarry, translated by David Ball, “Ubu the King”, in J. Ellen Gainor, Stanton B. Garner Jr., Martin Puchner, edited by Peter Simon, The Norton Anthology of Drama, volume 2 (The Nineteenth Century to the Present), New York, N.Y.: W. W. Norton & Company, →ISBN, pages 323 (act 3, scene 4) and 331 (act 4, scene 5):

     Well, oddsbellikins, listen carefully, or else these gentlemen will cut your earies off. Look, are you going to listen to me? Will you listen?! […] Hey! Sire Cotise, how is the health of your earie?

     [original: Eh bien, cornegidouille, écoute-moi bien, ſinon ces meſſieurs te couperont les oneilles. Mais, vas-tu m’écouter enfin ? […] Eh ! ſire Cotice, votre oneille, comment va-t-elle ?]

   • 2014, Karl Kruszelnicki, “Selfie”, in House of Karls, Sydney, N.S.W.: Pan Macmillan Australia, →ISBN, page 207:

     We Australians are pretty easy to recognise by our turn of phrase – especially the way that we shorten words and then shove a vowel or two on the end. Fire officer becomes “firie”, tradesperson becomes “tradie”, and a tin of beer gets called a “tinnie”. So lend me your “earies”, and I’ll tell you the story of how “self-portrait photograph” became “selfie”. Yep, we Australians brought this new word into the English language – and I had a small part in this process.

   • 2024, Kapka Kassabova, “The Orphaned Ones”, in Anima: A Wild Pastoral, London: Jonathan Cape, →ISBN, part 2 (Communion):

     ‘Come Balkán, give me your earie,’ Sásho tried to apply disinfectant to Balkán’s torn ear but he trotted off to catch up with the flock. You can’t get sick on this job.