[-ING2.] That listens or hears attentively. Also fig.
a. 1275. Prov. Ælfred, 654, in O. E. Misc. So deit þe lusninde luþere mon.
c. 1586. C’tess Pembroke, Ps. LXI. i. Lord, lend my voice a listning eare.
1608. Shaks., Per., I. ii. 87. That I should open to the listning ayre How many worthie Princes’ blouds were shed.
1727–46. Thomson, Summer, 745. Thro’ the soft silence of the listening night.
1750. Gray, Elegy, 61. Th’ Applause of list’ning Senates to command.
1820. Keats, Hyperion, I. 37. There was a listening fear in her regard.
1866. Geo. Eliot, F. Holt (1868), 59. I pray for a listening spirit, which is a great mark of grace.
