over-'earing

Updated: May 27, 2025

"We can't go into pubs without drinkin' in the ordinary way," said the cook, "so we're goin' in to sell bootlaces, like the chap in the book did. Now do you see?" "Why not try something cheaper first?" growled Sam "measurin' footmarks, or over-'earing fellers talking? It's just like you, cookie, doin' expensive things."

W. W. (William Wymark) Jacobs - The Skipper's Wooing, and The Brown Man's Servant