mind's ear

mind's ear

1. (idiomatic) The mental faculty or inner sense with which one produces or reproduces imagined or recalled sounds solely within the mind; the supposed organ within the mind which experiences such sounds.
   • 1849, Charlotte Brontë, Shirley, ch. 6:

     "I must read Shakespeare?"

     "You must have his spirit before you; you must hear his voice with your mind's ear."

   • 1916, Booth Tarkington, Penrod and Sam, ch. 21:

     The likeness of the great bass horn remained upon the retina of his mind's eye, losing nothing of its brazen enormity with the passing of hours, nor abating, in his mind's ear, one whit of its fascinating blatancy.

   • 2002, Terry Teachout, "A Master and Mentor in Song," New York Times, 27 Jan. (retrieved 8 Sep. 2009):

     Other people do "Don't Smoke in Bed" and "I've Got Your Number" and "You Came a Long Way From St. Louis," but when I hear them in my mind's ear, hers is the voice I hear.

• inner ear

• mind's eye

• Amerinds, dimerans, drimanes