listen for something—make a conscious effort to catch the sound of smth.; concentrate on hearing smth.:
- If beyond the silence we listen for the faintest undertones, we detect a stifled, continuous hum of insects.
listen out for something—
1. = listen for something:
- You will be listening out for any human presence such as cutting of firewood, dogs barking, etc. Poaching still sadly exists….
2. wait expectantly to hear or learn smth.:
- He sees Focus Groups as a platform in which we test known hypotheses rather than listen out for new hypotheses to emerge.