Definition of "listen"

He read the letter aloud. Sophia listened with the studied air of one for whom, even in these days, a title possessed some surreptitious allurement.

1922, Ben Travers, chapter 1, in A Cuckoo in the Nest‎

I'm listening to what you say / Even though I look the other way / But you could never understand / The feeling of what I'm needing

2007, KT Tunstall (lyrics and music), “Saving My Face”, in Drastic Fantastic‎

It was April 22, 1831, and a young man was walking down Whitehall in the direction of Parliament Street. […]. He halted opposite the Privy Gardens, and, with his face turned skywards, listened until the sound of the Tower guns smote again on the ear and dispelled his doubts.

1906, Stanley J[ohn] Weyman, chapter I, in Chippinge Borough, New York, N.Y.: McClure, Phillips & Co., page 01

He reined Wrangle to a walk, halted now and then to listen, and then proceeded cautiously with shifting and alert gaze.

1912 January, Zane Grey, chapter 4, in Riders of the Purple Sage […], New York, N.Y., London: Harper & Brothers Publishers

Never listen when they tell you that Man and the animals have a common interest […].

1945 August 17, George Orwell [pseudonym; Eric Arthur Blair], chapter 1, in Animal Farm […], London: Secker & Warburg

'But, sir, lyars ye have lystened, and that hath caused grete debate betwyxte you and me.'

1485, Sir Thomas Malory, Le Morte d'Arthur, Book XX

Lady, vouchsafe to listen what I say.

1591 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The First Part of Henry the Sixt”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, [Act V, scene iii]

Here laid his Scrip, with wholesome Viands fill'd, / There, listening every Noise, his watchful Dog.

1727, James Thomson, “Summer”, in The Seasons, London: […] A[ndrew] Millar, and sold by Thomas Cadell, […], published 1768

The diss song, “Back to Back,” now has more than 124 million listens, a sign that the streaming can attract a sizable audience for a single track.

2016 March 29, Victor Luckerson, “There's a New Way To Listen To All the Remixes You Want”, in Time‎

I hadn't spoken to her in a year, but she could still see my listens on the music platform we both used.

2020, Emily Segal, Mercury Retrograde, New York: Deluge Books