listen carefully
begin to listen attentively
become very alert and start listening
start to listen with full attention
prick up ears
She pricked up her ears when she heard her name being mentioned by the group chatting animatedly at the corner.
His ears pricked up when he heard the word “incentive” during the otherwise boring all employees’ meet.
He pricked up his ears when he overheard a juicy bit of gossip being discussed at the office lobby.
He pricked up his ears when he heard that they were going away for a vacation to a place he had always wanted to go to.
An interesting piece of news always gets everyone to prick their ears up and listen carefully.
Jeff pricked his ears up when he heard his wife’s name being mentioned.
Everyone pricked up their ears when the announcement about the new policy came in.
There is no origin for this idiom
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definition
Common phrase that has a specific meaning.