Green’s Dictionary of Slang

(orig. boxing) the ear.

1817		R. Welsh (ed.) Amer. Register II 274/2: [from London Courier] Oliver fell and had the worst of it; he lost wind, and exhibited the first claret, under his right listener.
1821		Egan Life in London (1869) 264: If you’ll [...] put your listeners forward, you’ll hear all about it.
1828		Sussex Advertiser 14 Apr. 4/3: My darling creature, a word in your listener, if you please.
1837		‘The Wide Awake Club’ in Bentley’s Misc. Feb. 210: That means ‘Cock your listeners,’ thought I.
1841		Sydney Herald 26 Oct. 2/4: ‘To blow up,’ or ‘to give a person a blowing up,’ [...] is chiefly used by such people as call porter, heavy wet, the eyes, daylights, the ears, listeners, halfpence, browns, shillings, bobs, money, tin or blunt, gentlemen, gents,.
1841		True Flash (NY) 4 Dec. n.p.: [A] terrific blow on the left listener.
1842		Egan ‘The Bridle Cull’ in Farmer Musa Pedestris (1896) 139: Oh prick up your list’ners if you are fond of fun / A bridle-cull’s the hero, and his little pop-gun.
1845		Bell’s Life in Sydney 20 Sept. 3/1: Billy napped it with the right on the listener very heavy.
1850		Bell’s Life in Sydney 2 Feb. 2/4: He concluded the round by a tremendous hit on the left listener,.
1859		Matsell Vocabulum 127: listeners. The ears.
1860		Bell’s Life in Sydney 7 Apr. 4/1: Dan swung round his right on jemmy’s listener.
1860		Sporting Life (London) 17 Oct. 3/4: Tyler dashed out his left at Gilliam’s conk [...] Bill returned on Tom’s left listener.
1870		Bell’s Life in Sydney 21 May 2/5: He [...] got a right hander from Abe in the ‘listener’.
1888		Wanganui Herald 18 Feb. 2/9: His unfortunate ‘lug’ was visited so frequently by the English lad’s mauler tht his ‘listner’ [sic] swelled.
1893		H. Lawson ‘Coming Across’ in Roderick (1972) 185: I hauled off and landed him a beauty under the butt of the listener.
1900		Bulletin (Sydney) 30 Jun. 10/2: [I]t was noticed that his hair had slipped down over his right ear, leaving a shiny patch on the opposite side, against which his large red ‘listener’ looked like a badly-executed bas-relief.
1913		H. Lawson ‘The Kids’ in Roderick (1972) 807: He’d soon give ’em a lift under the butt of the listener.
1929		H.C. Witwer Yes Man’s Land 159: Broken smeller, cauliflower listeners, puffed lips.
1938		Pittsburgh Courier (PA) 27 Aug. 11/1: Jim nod is creeping on my lead so I think I will [...] crawl between the lily-whites and pound my listener.
1975		‘P.B. Yuill’ Hazell and the Three-card Trick (1977) 102: My listeners knew the difference between a real snob accent and the kind you pick up from the correspondence course.