Obs. [perh. orig. f. EAR sb.3 + RENT; but used (? punningly) with allusion to EAR sb.1] ? Some kind of agricultural rent. In quots. used punningly for: a. The loss of a person’s ears in the pillory. b. The ‘tax’ imposed on a listener’s patience by a profitless or noisy talker.
1610. B. Jonson, Alch., I. i. (1612), B 3. Raskalls, Would runne themselues from breath, to see me ride, Or you t’haue but a Hole to thrust your heads in, For which you should pay Eare-rent.
1624. Massinger, Renegado, III. ii. (1630), F 3 b. You speake not tempests, nor take eare-rent from A poore shopkeeper.
