Ring in the Ear.

A sign of slavery or life-long servitude.

“Then Eldad took an awl, and, piercing his [Jetur’s] ears against the doorpost, made him his servant for ever. The elders pronounced a blessing, and Eldad put a ring through the ears of Jetur, as a sign that he was become his property.”—Eldad the Pilgrim, chap. i.

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Entry taken from Dictionary of Phrase and Fable, edited by the Rev. E. Cobham Brewer, LL.D. and revised in 1895.

Rinaldo (in Jerusalem Delivered)
Ring
Ring
Ring (The)
Ring
Ring
Ring Down
Ring Finger
Ring Posies
Ring a Ding-ding
Ring in the Ear
Ring of Invisibility (The)
Ring One’s Own Bell (To)
Rings Noted in Fable
Ringing Changes
Ringing the Changes
Ringing Island
Ringleader
Riot
Rip (A)
Rip