hark

[hahrk]

verb (used without object)

1. to listen attentively; hearken.

verb (used with object)

1. Archaic.,  to listen to; hear.

noun

1. a hunter's shout to hounds, as to encourage them in following the scent.

verb phrase

1. hark back

   1. (of hounds) to return along the course in order to regain a lost scent.

   2. to return to a previous subject or point; revert.

      He kept harking back to his early days in vaudeville.

hark

/ hɑːk /

verb

1. (intr; usually imperative) to listen; pay attention

Other Word Forms

• unharked adjective

Word History and Origins

Origin of hark¹

1175–1225; Middle English herken, earlier herkien, Old English *heorcian; cognate with Old Frisian herkia, harkia; akin to Middle Dutch harken, Middle High German, German horchen. See hearken, hear

Word History and Origins

Origin of hark¹

Old English heorcnian to _hearken ; related to Old Frisian herkia, Old High German hōrechen; see _hear

Example Sentences

The commuters in “Le Métro” hark back to his early streetcar scenes but now there’s an air of mystery to the straphangers, with the central figure’s face obscured and bisected by a subway pole.

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The name harks back to historic preparations for winter in the northern hemisphere, where people would hunt and preserve meats.

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Like is fellow crew, his words hark back to a bygone space age, and the words of then President John F. Kennedey in 1962:

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The song's lyrics hark back to the start of a soured relationship: "I had all and then most of you / Some and now none of you / Take me back to the night we met."

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Its title appears to hark back to the singer's 2012 hit Boyfriend, featuring the line "swag, swag, swag, on you".

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