навострить слух

• НАВОСТРИТЬ <НАСТОРОЖИТЬ> УШИ <СЛУХ> coll

[VP; usu. this WO]

=====

1. [subj: animal; usu. pastor Verbal Adv]

⇒ (usu. of a dog or horse) to become very alert, raise the ears so as to listen intently (upon hearing some sound):

- X навострил уши{{}}≈ X pricked up his ears;

- X cocked his ears.

2. [subj: human; usu. past]

⇒ to prepare to listen or to begin listening with intense attention and interest:

- X навострил уши{{}}≈ X pricked up his ears;

- X cocked his ears;

- [in limited contexts] X was all ears.

     ♦ Всё время обеда Анна Михайловна говорила о слухах войны, о Николушке... Наташа, из всего семейства более всех одарённая способностью чувствовать оттенки интонаций, взглядов и выражений лиц, с начала обеда насторожила уши и знала, что что-нибудь есть между ее отцом и Анной Михайловной и что-нибудь касающееся брата и что Анна Михайловна приготавливает (Толстой 4). All during dinner Anna Mikhailovna talked of rumors concerning the war and of Nikolushka. ... Natasha, who of all the family was the most gifted with the faculty of catching the subtleties of an intonation, a glance, or the expression of a face, pricked up her ears at the beginning of dinner and felt that there was some secret between her father and Anna Mikhailovna, that it had something to do with her brother, and that Anna Mikhailovna was preparing them for it (4a)

     ♦ Ребенок, навострив уши и глаза, страстно впивался в рассказ (Гончаров 1). The child, all eyes and ears, listened to the story with passionate absorption (1b).